Years of War: A Compendium
by Angel9505
Summary: Winning the Hunger Games is no easy task, something very few can say they have done. This is a compendium of the tales of Victors long past, of the many tributes who have come and gone, lost to the Games. In this, I, Capitolite Natalie Clarke, will take you through the stories of the strong, brave, and just plain lucky who conquered their Arenas and fellow tributes to leave alive.
1. Preface

**A/N: Hi everyone! Just a heads up, this is my first Fanfiction. It's inspired by Cjborange with "23 Cannons: The Victor's Compendium" and Tracelynn with "500 Years of Penance" so please check those out if you haven't already, they are really amazing!**

Hi.

I am Games enthusiast and former Head Gamemaker Natalie Clarke.

And this is the book I have created as a reminder of the power of the Hunger Games, to both the Districts and the Capitol. A chapter for each Victor. A reminder that many have been in some way involved, be it tribute or Gamemaker, stylist or escort, with the Hunger Games.

As the Games are not an easy thing to summarise, I have organised each chapter into three parts: the background, which will explain the Capitol events of the year and the tributes; the Games, which of course will detail major events of that year's Games; and the events, which will update the reader on Victor news. A list of Victors will be included at the end of each chapter for your convenience.


	2. Glossary

**Bloodbath:** The term given to the initial battle for supplies at the start of every Games. It was coined in the 2nd when President Emerald Sevine informally referred to it as such in a conversation with Head Gamemaker Josephine White, and the name stuck.

 **Career:** A trained tribute, typically from a Career District.

 **Career District:** A District that usually produces a Career volunteer for the Games, normally thought of as Districts 1, 2 and 4.

 **Escort:** The Capitolite assigned to the Reaping for a district. They control the schedule of the tributes until Launch.

 **Gamemakers:** The group of people who have control over the Arena. They are tasked with making the Games bloody and entertaining to watch.

 **Head Gamemaker:** A person who controls the Gamemakers. He or she takes full responsibility and credit for whatever happens in the Arena.

 **Head Stylist:** The stylist who is in charge of creating costumes for their assigned tribute.

 **Hunger Games:** The annual event in which a male and a female tribute is reaped from each of the twelve districts of Panem to compete in a battle to the death.

 **Mentor:** A selected Victor from each district, one male and one female, who advises the tribute and helps them to plan their strategy. Mentors control sponsor gifts to the tributes.

 **Mutts:** Specially-designed creations of the Capitol made to entertain.

 **Quarter Quell:** A special Games that occurs every 25 years. At the creation of the Games, a box was filled with slips of yellow paper, to be read every 25 years. These held the twists for the Quarter Quells. Quell Games have a change made to some aspect by the twist read from the box.

 **Reapings:** The selection process of a male and female tribute to represent a district.

 **Stylist:** The small group of Capitolites assigned to a tribute's preparation for the parade and interviews.

 **Tesserae:** A small supply of oil and grain, given by the Capitol, collected at the Justice Building every month. It can be taken by any children eligible at a Reaping and is exchanged for extra slips of paper in the Reaping bowl.

 **Tribute:** A competitor in the Games who is Reaped or volunteers in place of the tribute who is Reaped. Tributes age between 12 and 18, with the exceptions of select Quarter Quells.

 **Victor:** The last tribute standing in a Games, who is then declared a Victor and given privileges to the Victor's Village in their district.

 **Volunteering:** When prompted by the escort, other eligible children may decide to volunteer in place of the Reaped tribute.


	3. The 1st Hunger Games

**A/N: Hey guys, just to let everyone know, I may do batch updates, but please don't leave my fanfic! Also, I know the names can be a little weird(I took inspiration from literally everything I read) but stick with me.**

 **The 1st Hunger Games**

 **Background**

The rebellion had just fallen, its leader destroyed and the districts separated. The Hunger Games had begun.

Emerald Sevine, newly elected President of Panem, was the first to hold such a title. She had been the one to establish the yearly tradition of the Hunger Games, pitting 24 teenagers from the 12 districts against one another to survive.

President Emerald had set her longtime friend Josephine White onto the hard task of constructing the first Arena, and she came up with a basic idea that would become a staple of Arenas as the years went by, a plain forest with ample water sources. She thus became the first Head Gamemaker, incorporating walls around her creation to force the final tributes together. She supplied the weapons and survival equipment that would fill the Horn of Plenty, and she prepared the mines that would keep the tributes in their place.

The Games then were very different to the one we know today. There were no sponsors, no private sessions with Gamemakers, no mutts, and no interviews. They did have training time as well, which was a fortunate thing, or we would likely have had untrained children trying to pick up a sword by the blade or arrows without a bow.

The pair from 2 stood out as being siblings, and were in an alliance right from the start. The tributes from 9 were best friends, and also decided to join forces, while the girl from 3 had been abandoned by her stronger district partner, and allied with the pair from 11 after convincing them that they would have to survive and that they were really going to die. Only time would tell which of the first batch of fighters would emerge victorious from the Arena.

 **Tribute List**

District 1: Quinn Delacey, 15, and Porter Flynn, 17

District 2: Alexander Lockheart, 16, and Alexandra Lockheart, 12

District 3: Eli Wendell, 18, and Alison Caster, 13

District 4: Archer Eloofin, 16, and Cecelia Ashton, 18

District 5: Joseph Pullen, 15, and Elizabeth Flotran, 15

District 6: Alex Webin, 12, and Portia Millicent, 16

District 7: Steven Bellini, 14, and Cinder Locke, 17

District 8: Darren Plitzey, 18, and Millie Odell, 13

District 9: Brian Kendall, 14, and Alexandra Lille, 14

District 10: Odare Glenn, 16, and Josepha Whitmore, 18

District 11: Septimus Prime, 12, and Catherine Depine, 15

District 12: Pallor Abernathy, 17, and Rue Everdeen, 16

 **The Games**

As the tributes rose, no one had seen the Games before, and no one knew what to expect. When they rose into a forest, there was an audible sigh from Steven and Cinder, the pair from Seven, as they all stood in shock on their starting spots. "Do not leave your pedestal until the countdown hits zero. You will be blown up." Head Gamemaker Josephine's voice echoed through the Arena of her creation. When the gong rang to signal the start of the first ever Hunger Games, nobody knew what to do, and nobody ran for the supplies like tributes today. They began to meander aimlessly, that is, until Cinder picked up an axe and begin to practice with it, felling the trees around the clearing. When the others saw this, they all made for their favourite or most familiar weapons, Steven joining Cinder with the axes, Archer and Cecelia going straight for the tridents, Eli picking up a sword and a crossbow, and Pallor, a poor Seam boy, heading for a pickaxe. The others, with no preferred weapons, armed themselves with whatever they saw, the siblings from Two deciding on a bow for Alexandra and a spear for Alexander, with majority of the tributes picking up knives, seeing them as flexible and basic.

Cinder made the first kill. As tributes swarmed the horn, she turned, accidentally lodging her axe deep in Millie's neck as she did so.

 _Millie Odell, District 8 Female: 24th, Killed by Cinder, Bloodbath_

Stunned and unable to remove the axe in time, she was an easy target for Millie's district partner, bent on revenge. He lunged at her, burying the knife in her back and only drawing it out to slit her throat.

 _Cinder Locke, District 7 Female: 23rd, Killed by Darren, Bloodbath_

Darren was unable to enjoy his comeback, however, as the younger Steven swiftly plunged his own axe into his body in another move of district loyalty.

 _Darren Plitzey, District 8 Male: 22nd, Killed by Steven, Bloodbath_

Eli, one of the rare tributes Three would produce who relied on strength rather than wit, released his crossbow, firing the arrow for Alexandra. She didn't see it, and moved straight into the line of fire.

 _Alexandra Lockheart, District 2 Female: 21st, Killed by Eli, Bloodbath_

Alexander, enraged, charged at Eli, at which point the boy from Three discarded the crossbow, drawing his blade and cleanly parrying Alexander's blow. Without wasting a second, he lunged, forcing the blade into the boy's heart.

 _Alexander Lockheart, District 2 Male: 20th, Killed by Eli, Bloodbath_

Even his district partner was not spared the carnage. Only 13, she had begun to run when she saw Eli's merciless kills, but he saw her as the only tribute still lingering in range, so he aimed the bow once more and planted an arrow deep in her head.

 _Alison Caster, District 3 Female: 19th, Killed by Eli, Bloodbath_

When Alison died, six cannons fired for the first six deaths of the Hunger Games. The first Bloodbath had ended, and Eli had the Cornucopia all to himself. He clearly seemed to be the powerhouse tribute this year.

On Day 2, Cecelia came across the pair from Eleven. She watched for a second as they noticed her, and the younger boy began to visibly tremble at the spear in her hands. She lowered her spear point slowly and soon chose to become their ally.

Later that day, the new alliance of Cecelia, Septimus and Catherine stumbled upon the friends from Nine. Brian wasted no time, lunging straight for Cecelia, knife in hand, but she was no easy mark, twirling the spear with years of practice as the knife slid away from its intended target. She thrust her weapon deep into his gut and he doubled over, giving her an easy shot at his head.

 _Brian Kendall, District 9 Male: 18th, Killed by Cecelia, Day 2_

Alexandra was furious at her friend's death. She swiftly planted her own knife into the head of the weakest link, seeking to kill the pair from Eleven and escape.

 _Septimus Prime, District 11 Male: 17th, Killed by Alexandra, Day 2_

However, Cecelia saw this, and twirled her spear confidently as she attacked, bearing down on Alexandra with relentless fury, delivering a tornado of mercilessly lethal blows, never once easing up at all. Eventually, Alexandra realised she would never win and dropped her knife point for just a fraction of a second. But the girl from Four was skilled, and stabbed her in that second.

 _Alexandra Lille, District 9 Female: 16th, Killed by Cecelia, Day 2_

Eli was hunting all of Day 2, but no one happened to be in his path. On Day 3, however, he came across the unlucky Porter from 1, and quickly demolished her with his sword, but she managed to throw her knife into his left arm as she tried to run.

 _Porter Flynn, District 1 Female: 15th, Killed by Eli, Day 3_

Archer and Steven crossed paths near dusk on Day 3. Their duel lasted several minutes, both skilled in their district's trademark weapons, but eventually, the older boy triumphed.

 _Steven Bellini, District 7 Male: 14th, Killed by Archer, Day 3_

The next day, Archer was unfortunate enough to encounter Eli, and his spear was no match for Eli's crossbow, who shot into his head before he could react.

 _Archer Eloofin, District 4 Male: 13th, Killed by Eli, Day 4_

A few minutes later, Catherine was found not far away from Archer's dead body, possibly hoping to pillage it once Eli left. He had other plans, killing her in an instant as his sword found a home in the back of her head.

 _Catherine Depine, District 11 Female: 12th, Killed by Eli, Day 4_

On Day 5, Eli again went hunting, and Cecelia, now a loner, watched from the bushes as he walked by, holding her breath while he strolled casually past like nothing was wrong. She decided against jumping him, for he was likely to hear her coming.

Day 6 saw another clash of the outliers as Pallor from 12 and Alex from 6 met around midday. Pallor's pickaxe, with its reach edge over the younger boy's knife, quickly pushed aside the blade, causing Alex to yell as he fell to the ground. The older boy didn't stop, plunging the pickaxe into the other tribute's head as he screamed, repeating the process until the cannon fired.

 _Alex Webin, District 6 Male: 11th, Killed by Pallor, Day 6_

On Day 7, Odare was out of supplies, and couldn't find water. He decided to chance raiding the Cornucopia, but Eli heard him when a twig snapped under his weight, and his crossbow bolt wormed its way into the knife wielder's head.

 _Odare Glenn, District 10 Male: 10th, Killed by Eli, Day 7_

As Eli slept that night, Elizabeth from 5 decided he had to go. She would die eventually if she didn't kill the boy from Three tonight, and if she failed, at least he seemed to only kill for the sake of returning home, so it would be quicker than having a completely lost duel. At least, that was her plan.

On the other side of the Arena, her district partner had just run out of water, and decided to search for a reliable source.

As she set foot in the horn, some sixth sense warned the eighteen-year-old and he shot upright. She attempted to back out like she was never there, but the moonlight illuminated her small form and she cast an obvious shadow across the inside of the Cornucopia, and Eli planted another of his numerous bolts in her skull, waiting until the cannon fired to relax once more.

 _Elizabeth Flotran, District 5 Female: 9th, Killed by Eli, Day 8_

That left the Final 8, although there were no interviews at the time: Quinn Delacey from District 1, Eli Wendell from District 3, Cecelia Ashton from District 4, Joseph Pullen from District 5, Portia Millicent from District 6, Josepha Whitmore from District 10 and Pallor Abernathy and Rue Everdeen from District 12.

Day 9 saw no deaths, but Rue and Portia met late in the evening, staring at each other for a few precious seconds before Rue dropped her knife in fear and ran. Portia decided not to pursue the other girl, as she was herself tired and did not wish to extinguish another tribute.

Joseph had been searching for a stream or lake the past two days, but when the sun rose on Day 10, his efforts were all in vain as he slumped to the ground unconscious, never to wake again.

 _Joseph Pullen, District 5 Male: 8th, Dehydration, Day 10_

Rue and Quinn crossed paths around dusk the same day District 5 lost all hope of Victory. On seeing the tribute from 1 holding his knife defensively, the girl screamed loudly and tried to run, but he was too fast, tackling her to the ground. Trapped, she looked straight into the boy's eyes and saw nothing but determination. Pinned down, she could only plead with the younger tribute as he plunged the knife into her heart, only getting up when the hollow sound of her cannon echoed through the Arena.

 _Rue Everdeen, District 12 Female: 7th, Killed by Quinn, Day 10_

Eli claimed his ninth victim late on Day 11, the seventeen-year-old girl running right past him as Cecelia heard his movement, stopping her run completely and attempting to slow her laboured breathing as the strongest tribute quickly polished the girl off.

 _Portia Millicent, District 6 Female: 6th, Killed by Eli, Day 11_

As Cecelia woke the next day, she saw Josepha barely metres away, casually walking as though Cecelia didn't exist. The girl from the fishing district quickly struck, throwing her spear and burying it deep in the Ten girl's head.

 _Josepha Whitmore, District 10 Female: 5th, Killed by Cecelia, Day 12_

Unbeknownst to her, Eli had watched from a nearby bush, and rose in front of her, shooting before she could react and killing the strong tribute.

 _Cecelia Ashton, District 4 Female: 4th, Killed by Eli, Day 12_

Suddenly, the ground gave out a large rumble, walls rising on all directions to close in on the Cornucopia. Pallor and Quinn had been looking to steal from the horn, and relatively near, they both safely clambered onto the roof, neither attacking. Pallor had a close call when Quinn moved to lodge the knife into his back, but remembered who the final tribute was and stopped himself, and the two boys agreed to ally to kill Eli before fighting it out.

Eli, however, was near the edge as the walls rose. He sprinted back towards his camp, but relaxed when he realised the walls were not moving too fast. Even his walking pace easily distanced himself from the deadly edges, and he soon came into view of the allies, raising his bow. He intended to win, no matter the cost.

He made to fire the bolt into Quinn's head when it hit him. His bowstring snapped, worn from days of intense use and scraping past sharp branches and twigs. Although shocked, Eli didn't hesitate to throw aside the useless machine and charged at the pair, sword gripped tightly in hand. They dropped off the roof to face him.

Quinn was soon on the defensive, frantically fending off the barrage of sword strikes from the older tribute, when Pallor managed to sneak around the side. Eli just barely caught the swish of the pickaxe as it descended, and turned quickly, slashing his blade right to deflect the boy's strike. But he was determined, shoving all his strength into pushing his weapon back to the right, forcing it down into the shoulder of the favourite. Eli quickly retaliated, the pickaxe lodged too deep to retrieve, by snatching the Seam boy by the scruff of his neck and shoving him into the path of Quinn's blow.

 _Pallor Abernathy, District 12 Male: 3rd, Killed by Quinn, Finale_

Now, in a Final 2 fight, Quinn knew he had no chance. He halfheartedly lunged forth, slicing the knife through the air, but it was too easy for Eli to sidestep, slashing at Quinn's legs with his sword. As the young boy fell to the ground, blood oozing from his wounds, Eli brought the sword down hard onto Quinn's head.

 _Quinn Delacey, District 1 Male: 2nd, Killed by Eli, Finale_

"Eli Wendell of District 3, you are the Victor of the 1st Hunger Games!" Flavius's voice boomed through the Arena, accompanied by the trademark tune of the trumpets, as Eli dropped his sword and allowed the tears for his fellow tributes to flow.

 _Victor - District 3 Male - Eli Wendell_

 **Events**

Eli's Victory Tour went badly, with the families of the dead he killed in Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 screaming at him. The father of Pallor, the boy he had made Quinn kill, tried to throw one of his kitchen knives at Eli, but a Peacekeeper shoved Eli away while others shot the man.

Eli moves into the Victor's Village of District 3 and becomes the first Victor of the Hunger Games.

 **List of Victors**

1st HG: Eli Wendell(#1, #1, District 3)


	4. The 2nd Hunger Games

**The 2nd Hunger Games**

 **Background**

President Emerald, who was satisfied with the shock value of last year's Games, brought her friend Head Gamemaker Josephine White back for another year. This time, Josephine designed a second cliché Arena: a ruined city from the Dark Days. In the south, she had constructed a building that would gradually emit toxic fumes, forcing the tributes to find and kill one another. The public of the Capitol wanted to help their favourite tributes, and so, the first sponsor gifts were dropped in the Second Hunger Games, the system that delivered them again created by Josephine.

She decided to expand her team of Gamemakers to increase her control over the Arena, but again they built the same imposing walls to rise from the edges and push the last tributes inward. The city was filled with half-destroyed buildings and rubble, with only one still intact: the tallest of all; the one that housed the Cornucopia.

The tributes this year were slightly stronger than the year prior. In particular, the girl from One and the boy from Eleven, Sapphire Dawn and Thorn Lancore, seemed especially skilled, Sapphire excelling with the sword and bow like the Victor the year before while Thorn showcased his talents with the spear and knives. We now recognise Sapphire as the first Career. These two would surely make for a bloody duel. The girl from Four, Celia Ashton, was Cecelia's younger sister, and, angry at being Reaped, vowed furiously to win and avenge her, killing the boy from Three as she went, while the boy from Eight volunteered for his younger brother and allied with his district partner, who he had known for a while but was not particularly close to. The pair from Three were like Alexander and Alexandra Lockheart the previous year, allied siblings with the misfortune to be Reaped together, while the pair from Seven, both eighteen, understood the nature of the Game, allying for a chance at escaping death. We shall see how all this played out.

 **Tribute List**

District 1: Sam Chisse, 12, and Sapphire Dawn, 18

District 2: Alistair Purdone, 16, and Samantha Keinne, 13

District 3: Efim Candella, 15, and Anabel Candella, 13

District 4: Wave Linaso, 17, and Celia Ashton, 16

District 5: Chris Delamor, 14, and Bella Cartney, 17

District 6: Avil Walle, 12, and Isadora Kent, 15

District 7: Wood Glint, 18, and Talise Oultento, 18

District 8: Flinne Levenne, 14, and Serafina Alvern, 15

District 9: Edison Sene, 16, and Sickle Isentore, 17

District 10: Cain Portsson, 17, and Elinore Quenings, 15

District 11: Thorn Lancore, 18, and Rune Grenet, 15

District 12: Rory Shadille, 13, and Eseden Corte, 12

 **The Games**

As the tributes entered the Arena, many gasped at the stark contrast to the year prior. Where the Arena had consisted of natural beauty, it was now a desolate wasteland, the danger clearer than ever as they returned their attention to the countdown. Sapphire glanced around, nearly falling as she tried to scan the other side of the horn before righting herself and preparing to sprint into the horn. Thorn, directly across from her, stared straight at a lone knife resting on a crate, and also at the girl to his left, apparently prepared to kill to escape the Arena. Talise and Wood quickly acknowledged each other before signaling the axes in the Cornucopia, while Efim and Anabel, fortunately next to each other, positioned themselves to run for the supplies, knowing that with it lay their hopes of survival. Celia, unable to spot the boy from Three, focused instead on the spear she knew Thorn would kill her for, hoping to escape before she had to fight.

The instant the gong rang out, one tribute turned and ran: Isadora from 6. One of the year's weaker tributes, she did not want to risk being caught in the crossfire of the fight she knew would ensue between the giants of the year, or even from another outlier hoping to thin the field or prove their strength.

Eseden, Twelve's young girl, was surprisingly fast, nearing the Cornucopia as the first tribute made it in. Unfortunately, she had entered the horn at the exact moment Sapphire chose to turn, her sword gripped tightly and bow laying on a nearby table within easy reach, and she was soon impaled on the blade, her cries silenced as the older girl withdrew her blade and thrust it once more into the limp form.

 _Eseden Corte, District 12 Female: 24th, Killed by Sapphire, Bloodbath_

Thorn had quickly reached his weapon, and as the unlucky girl ran by, he grabbed the back of her tribute uniform and yanked her towards him. When she began to scream, he quickly raised the knife and drew it across her throat, ending her struggles in an instant and throwing aside her body.

 _Sickle Isentore, District 9 Female: 23rd, Killed by Thorn, Bloodbath_

Wave, being from Four, was obviously skilled with a spear or trident. Spotting his weapon in the Cornucopia, he ran in, but was greeted by the blades of the alliance from Seven, Talise burying her handaxes in his chest as Wood decapitated the seventeen-year-old with one clean axe stroke.

 _Wave Linaso, District 4 Male: 22nd, Killed by Talise and Wood, Bloodbath_

Sapphire watched in satisfaction as Eseden's limp body slid off her blade. Once the young girl had fallen to the floor of the golden building, she turned to pick up her bow, and after loosing the first shot, she had the Cornucopia all to herself, Wood and Talise long gone, having already obtained their preferred weapons. The Career stepped out of the horn, bowstring already drawn, and barely a second later, a running Samantha collapsed, three arrows protruding from her back and her knife tumbling from her grip.

 _Samantha Keinne, District 2 Female: 21st, Killed by Sapphire, Bloodbath_

Still unable to locate Efim, Celia wanted to prove her skills with the spear she had gotten. When a boy her age ran past, she abandoned all caution, throwing her weapon with all her might and running to retrieve it from his body before jamming it in once more to ensure her kill.

 _Edison Sene, District 9 Male: 20th, Killed by Celia, Bloodbath_

Alistair, being from Two, had never gone hungry, and as a result had put on quite a few muscles. As he bore down on the younger Flinne, his district partner ran by, a knife grasped tightly in her right hand as she shoved the other into his grip. Knowing he could be in trouble, Alistair lunged, throwing himself at Flinne before the boy had time to react and burying the knife in his body. As he fell to the floor, Eight's boy threw his blade, collapsing with a dull thud as the knife found its way into Alistair's dominant arm. Serafina quickly struck, deflecting his stroke and returning it with a passion as her younger partner died.

 _Flinne Levenne, District 8 Male: 19th, Killed by Alistair, Bloodbath_

Only a few seconds later, a now-weakened Alistair realised he couldn't hold her off with his wounds, and tried the same trick, throwing himself into another desperate attack. But Serafina was ready, sidestepping his blow and plunging her knife into him while he was off-balance, ending Two's hopes of Victory.

 _Alistair Purdone, District 2 Male: 18th, Killed by Flinne and Serafina, Bloodbath_

Anabel had managed to lag behind Efim, and when he turned, he noticed his younger sister grasping a knife, sneaking up behind the powerful eighteen-year-old outside the horn as he entered the building. When she had almost reached her striking distance, the older girl turned quickly, sliding her sword across to block an attack that never came before thrusting it forth and watching as blood burbled from her wound. Anabel slid off the blade, allowing Sapphire to cut off her head with a clean strike as she slumped to the rocky floor in a pool of blood.

 _Anabel Candella, District 3 Female: 17th, Killed by Sapphire, Bloodbath_

Thorn had made his first kill, but when his skilled adversary's young and weak district partner ran near, he wasted no time in pulling off the same kill, dragging the boy back towards him by the neck of his tribute clothing and slitting his throat before fleeing the carnage, one of the final tributes to do so.

 _Sam Chisse, District 1 Male: 16th, Killed by Thorn, Bloodbath_

Sapphire had the Cornucopia to herself, along with all the supplies that came with it. She decided to rest for the remainder of the day, satisfied with her three kills of the Bloodbath. Efim had escaped the horn with a belt of knives and a backpack, which he opened after trekking north for around an hour, finding a bottle of iodine, one can of food and an empty plastic bottle. He searched around his campsite and found a stream, quickly filling his bottle and purifying it.

Celia had also gone north, having her spear and three full bottles of water. Head Gamemaker Josephine knew she and Efim would make for a bloody battle when they met, and one which the younger boy was almost sure to lose. Because of this, she refrained from guiding them together yet, waiting until they met on their own, which they were bound to do soon.

Chris had taken refuge in a small building that was only half-demolished, as far away from the Cornucopia as he could get on Day 1. He had only a single loaf of bread, having abandoned everything else he had gained in order to flee the range of Sapphire. Meanwhile, Bella was the only tribute to head south, nearing the toxic, green smoke billowing from the old power plant. Being the first day, the fumes were not yet blatantly visible, and the harmful effects of the smoke were still weak.

Avil ran east, barely a few hundred metres from his district partner, yet they never met throughout the entirety of Day 1. He had his knife and sleeping bag, while Isadora had ran, and so had nothing. Eventually, Avil laid out his sleeping bag amidst a pile of rubble while his district partner found a pile large enough to hide her small form from both other tributes and partially the cold.

Talise and Wood had gone west, and when they stopped, a silver parachute floated down from the sky. The first sponsor gift of the Hunger Games had been sent. It contained a new axe for Wood, the one he had obtained already dull, and more importantly an abundance of food and water. Contented, the pair built up some camouflage and tucked themselves away in yet another pile of rubble.

Serafina had escaped with just a knife, one of the tributes who had it worst on the first night. She decided to make camp near Sapphire, risking it for the precious supplies she would soon need. For the remainder of the day, she busied herself organising her hideout on the top floor of the nearest building and damaging the stairs to break if she broke the highest one.

Cain and Elinore had both gone east as well, finding shelter within yet more destroyed buildings. Elinore had escaped with a trident and a backpack, empty except for a single box of matches and some rope. Cain, however, had a broadsword and his strength. He had not grabbed sufficient survival supplies, deciding then and there to make kills and take the equipment from his targets.

Thorn and Rune ran east as well, seemingly the most popular direction. Thorn had managed a spear, a single knife and some rope, while his younger partner had absolutely nothing, barely having escaped Sapphire and Celia's power with her life.

Rory obtained a single dagger, and made camp in the west, not far from the Cornucopia. It seems he had much the same idea as Serafina, but he would not pull it off quite as well.

Day 2 was deathless, though Rune had a close call when Thorn stumbled across her in the afternoon, only just holding back his kill on the realisation that she was his district partner. He did not give her any of his scarce supplies, but he smiled, turned and walked off, making it clear he would not actively help her, but he would not become her killer until absolutely necessary.

On Day 3, Efim felt like he was being watched. When he turned suddenly to check his back, he came face-to-face with Celia, and their showdown began. It didn't take long, though, as he had no specialty weapon and was armed with merely a knife, at a reach disadvantage from the start. The older girl deflected his first strike, twirling her spear like her sister, before sliding his blade aside again and feinting an attack, causing a scream. As he tried to lunge, she easily sidestepped his blow, finally striking back and knocking him to the ground. Celia took her time as she lowered the spear until it was pressing against his uniform, when she began to push harder as Efim continued to scream.

 _Efim Candella, District 3 Male: 15th, Killed by Celia, Day 3_

The same day, Elinore and Avil crossed paths, but a few seconds of stunned silence convinced Elinore to offer an alliance, which was quickly accepted. Sapphire began to scour the buildings near her camp, somehow not spotting Serafina's hiding place and missing the building completely, thought to be because she had thought she had already checked it. As she moved further out, Serafina climbed down from her shelter, snatching several survival supplies and quickly returning to hiding. Eventually, everyone fell asleep. Everyone, that is, except Thorn. He decided he would go tribute hunting through the night, and his efforts paid off when he found the sleeping alliance, cautiously tying down Avil before stabbing the older girl repeatedly. Her screams and subsequent cannon shot woke the boy, but Thorn had already prepared, and soon managed his fourth kill.

 _Elinore Quenings, District 10 Female: 14th, Killed by Thorn, Day 3_

 _Avil Walle, District 6 Male: 13th, Killed by Thorn, Day 4_

Bella seemed to be more and more on edge, whirling at any slight noise and frantically slashing at the air. Thorn continued to hunt, sprinkling short naps into his daily routine to substitute for his lack of sleep. Cain decided to explore west, deciding he wasn't finding enough. Rune spotted him passing from her hiding spot in the sparse trees, but unfortunately, she fell from her branch, and it snapped, somehow striking his head as she righted herself and hopped nimbly to a lower branch. But the movement had caught his eye, and he decided to throw some nearby rocks and force her out of her comfortable vantage point. Without anything to defend herself, Rune could only scramble around, attempting to avoid his projectiles, but eventually it was bound to happen. He gathered several stones and flung them in a single shot, and one struck Rune's arm, causing her to lose concentration and balance, tumbling from the tree completely and now an easy target for Cain's sword.

 _Rune Grenet, District 11 Female: 12th, Killed by Cain, Day 4_

The smoke from the power plant in the south slowly became more evident, but Bella insisted on remaining where she was, the other tributes gradually beginning to avoid her sector of the Arena.

Isadora also received a sponsor simply for being there, surviving as a background character. She obtained necessary survival supplies, but after figuring out the water in her lake was clean, she ate half her food in one sitting as she caressed the blade of the knife she had been sent.

Day 5 saw another close call, Chris' footsteps echoing across the rocky, hard ground as his district partner checked her back yet again, her knife raking across his chest and opening a slight gash before he turned and ran.

On Day 6, Sapphire spotted Rory running to the Cornucopia, believing that she had left the night before as he did not see her return. Quietly, she picked up her bow and aimed at the distant figure, releasing several arrows in the space of a second, with two of them flying true.

 _Rory Shadille, District 12 Male: 11th, Killed by Sapphire, Day 6_

Chris' wound also managed to become infected. On Day 7, despite his efforts to fight off the infection, he felt himself fading and began to plead for a sponsor, but in vain. He succumbed to his infection late afternoon.

 _Chris Delamor, District 5 Male: 10th, Killed by Bella, Day 7_

That same day, the smoke finally got to Bella. She began to run, but half-insane, she went sprawling to the ground, instinctively inhaling the poisonous fumes as she attempted to get back up. Barely a minute later, her cannon fired and Five lost all hope of Victory.

 _Bella Cartney, District 5 Female: 9th, Killed by poisonous smoke, Day 7_

This left the Final 8, although there were still no interviews: Sapphire Dawn from District 1, Celia Ashton from District 4, Isadora Kent from District 6, Wood Glint and Talise Oultento from District 7, Serafina Alvern from District 8, Cain Portsson from District 10 and Thorn Lancore from District 11.

Day 8 would see three deaths. Sapphire ventured farther out into the west, Thorn slowly headed north, and Serafina and Isadora met, but allied after a short battle. In the morning, Isadora, desperate and out of supplies, decided to attack Sapphire's camp, but Serafina happened to be outside, and when she was spotted, lunged at Isadora. When she avoided the blow, Serafina smiled, quietly beckoning her into the building she called home as a relatively skilled ally.

Just after noon, Thorn encountered Celia. Both armed with spears, it became a rather intense battle, neither willing to back down, as winning meant being a big step closer to winning, both being powerful tributes. After several minutes of fighting, Thorn messed up. Or so it seemed. As he lowered his spear point, Celia lunged, thrusting the spear forward. He tumbled to the floor, avoiding the strike, and when she moved to lodge the spear in his head, he jumped up, shifting right to dodge her, before burying his weapon in her body.

 _Celia Ashton, District 4 Female: 8th, Killed by Thorn, Day 8_

Talise and Wood hadn't seen action since the Bloodbath, so when they noticed Sapphire approaching around evening, they both didn't need to say a word to understand that this was the time to fight her. They hid in the rubble, hoping to surprise the girl from the district of luxury. But she had seen them.

As Sapphire neared their hiding spot, the pair nodded to each other, then burst from their shelter, axes raised. When Wood made to swing his, Sapphire released the only arrow she would need, and by the time it had lodged in his dominant arm, she had her sword out and was fighting Talise. But a trained Career was still too strong for even the best District 7 tributes, and one clean strike forced the girl to the floor. She didn't risk killing her while Wood remained, though, preferring instead to stamp hard and knock her out while she turned to battle him. Without his ally, it was no longer as close, and he was soon forced to defend against her relentless barrage, quickly giving ground to her expert sword strokes. When he finally went to attack, she deflected the weapon almost casually, his superior strength rendered useless by her precise and skilled motions. With him unarmed, she struck, slicing off his dominant arm and relaxing slightly as she slowly walked back to the weakened but still conscious Talise. As she neared, Talise threw her last hand axe, watching as it flew end over end through the air. Sapphire stood, paralysed, as the weapon sliced the air in front, nearing her, before passing harmlessly, slicing off her rebellious ponytail. She snapped back to reality, lowering the sword point onto Talise's throwing arm, slowly pressing harder and harder until it broke the skin and blood burbled from her wound. From behind her, Wood screamed louder as the red liquid poured from the stump that was his arm, but she never once stopped tormenting Talise as she brutally cut off her limbs before finally severing her head. Barely moments later, Wood's screams abruptly cut themselves off as he finally succumbed to the blood loss.

 _Talise Oultento, District 7 Female : 7th, Killed by Sapphire, Day 8_

 _Wood Glint, District 7 Male: 6th, Killed by Sapphire, Day 8_

With that fight, the action-packed Day 8 came to an end, leaving first Career Sapphire, almost-forgotten underdog alliance Isadora and Serafina, average survivor Cain and powerhouse spear fighter Thorn to vie for the Victor's crown.

The next day, Cain too ran out of supplies, deciding to attempt a raid on Sapphire's camp. As he neared the Cornucopia, a parachute floated from the sky. Within it lay just one paper. He hastily ripped out the package only to find the crumpled slip. Unfolding it revealed two words: "Turn around." He dropped the sheet and whirled, sword raised abruptly to defend himself against whoever it was. Seeing nothing, he cautiously continued, constantly checking his back in anxiety as he remembered the dangers of his plan. Fortunately for him, Sapphire was still in the same sector as Wood and Talise were before they met, and was most certainly not about to kill him. When he neared the horn, he turned, and noticing the weakest, saw a chance to thin the field. He ran back towards the pair, and as he barreled closer, Isadora sidestepped his massive swing. Her ally wasn't so lucky. The broadsword cleaved Serafina in two, and with the last of her energy, she sent the knife flying. It lodged into Cain's head as she exhaled her final breath.

Across the Arena, Thorn had stumbled across Sapphire, but had the good sense to try to surprise her. After a brief attempt at holding him off, Thorn's speed and ambush won out, and the Career fell to the hard, rocky floor, unable to defend herself as the strong boy knocked her unconscious with a light blow and tied her down. He planned to take his revenge on the powerful tribute who had made him fear the entire Games, jerking her roughly awake before raising his spear, feinting attacks to elicit screams from the skilled girl before slowly cutting away at her body.

Back to Cain and Isadora, the older boy raised his blade, but before he could do anything, the blood loss kicked in and he fell to the ground, where Isadora, enraged over her dead ally and friend, dropped to his side, stabbing him repeatedly with her own weapon, unknowing of Sapphire's fate to Thorn and vice versa, until the hollow sound of a cannon rang out. But whose cannon? The Gamemakers during the 2nd have made public a record of the trackers, but only for this section of the Games.

Upon hearing the shot, Thorn stopped, and deciding he didn't need the rope to deal with anyone else, he walked off, leaving Sapphire bound and covered in shallow yet plentiful cuts that burned her skin and a much deeper one that had barely missed her heart. So did Isadora, leaving Cain's bloodied body in the dust as she realised what she had done. Ever the optimist, Isadora felt broken, but she knew the only way to escape the same death she'd given Cain was to either kill herself or win the Games. Obviously, like any sane person, she chose to fight for the latter, gathering her thoughts, giving Serafina a few final thoughts, and returning to what had become her hideout.

 _Serafina Alvern, District 8 Female: 5th, Killed by Cain, Day 9_

 _Cain Portsson, District 10 Male: 4th, Killed by Serafina and Isadora, Day 9_

As Thorn wearily trudged back to his sector of the Arena and Sapphire returned slowly to the Cornucopia, the anthem played. Sapphire knew she'd gotten lucky, the other tribute dying just before she, at just the perfect time to save her from Thorn's wrath. Upon seeing the faces of Serafina and Cain projected in the night sky, Thorn groaned softly. He'd have to face a revengeful Sapphire again. Isadora remained blissfully unaware of the other clash of the day, watching barely a few hundred metres from Sapphire's base camp as the sponsor of medicine floated down gracefully from the night sky. The girl was pleased to receive the gift, knowing she was in no state to fight Thorn again, and hastily applied the cream to her numerous cuts.

The next day, the unbreakable walls rose once more. Sapphire sharpened her sword and donned her quiver of arrows, keeping her bow ready to fire, an arrow laying close by. Isadora watched, tucked safely away in her hiding spot, a weak and useless thirteen-year-old compared to the two powerhouse eighteen-year-olds of the Games, hoping to steal Victory from the winner of the Thorn vs Sapphire fight. Her attempt at preparation consisted of hiding her knife within her clothes and holding her former ally's like it was all she had. Thorn took his time, slowly walking towards the Cornucopia where the Finale would commence.

The indomitable structures continued to close in steadily, but as they reached the halfway point of their journey, the Finale began and the Gamemakers dropped the walls. Thorn burst from the bushes, zigzagging erratically towards where Sapphire stood, ready, as she tried to shoot. Her first arrow whistled by barely a centimetre right of his head, but it didn't faze him, and he continued to run, barely flinching as the second did the same. Isadora heard the commotion and prepared to join them. She prayed that Thorn would win as Sapphire had been brutal the entire Game, and she correctly believed that the Career would never let her live long enough after noticing her for her to get anywhere near or even open her mouth to speak. Everyone, Sapphire and Thorn included, had forgotten about the young girl with only a single kill under her belt to his five and her six; everyone had forgotten about the girl who had barely demonstrated any skills while the other two had shown off their unchallenged strength with their preferred weapons.

As Sapphire loosed her third and final shot of the Finale, Thorn began to perform District Four's trademark move, twirling the spear faster and faster than anything Cecelia or Celia had shown before their deaths until it became a sort of shield. The arrow glanced harmlessly off the oak of the shaft, and with that, Sapphire dropped the bow, switching over to her sword inhumanly quickly and hefting it to counter her adversary. She raised her blade, deflecting Thorn's stroke, but he quickly followed up his blow, releasing his left-hand grip for speed over power as he brought down the spear onto the glistening metal, his spear tip piercing the sword and making a barely noticeable hole. But a hole is a hole. Thorn, spurred on by his miniature victory in terms of weapons, kept his whirlwind of attacks going, forcing Sapphire onto the defensive as she only managed to block them with her practice, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead as she focused intensely on the motion of his weapon. Similarly focused, Thorn never let up, ensuring she never had the chance to counter-attack before she would be impaled, his moves becoming fancier and fancier as the training he'd done both before and in the Arena started to show, drawing her eyes in until she seemed completely riveted on the tip. When that happened, he seized his chance, astounding the watching Isadora with his speed and tactics under pressure as he drew the knife hanging by his side with his now-unnoticed left hand that had long since released its grasp of the wooden shaft, thrusting forth his spear in a suddenly-basic motion and forcing away her weapon before stepping in close and slamming the blade into her side. She screamed out, abruptly cutting herself off as she returned to the fight despite the agony of the blow, but with the blood leaking from the gaping wound in her stomach, her reactions slowed, her power dropped and her technique was no longer as evident as Thorn managed to ram away her slowly-dropping sword with a single powerful stroke. Now unarmed and defenceless, she fell to the ground, hands pushed hard against the hole as if hoping to stem the flow of the blood. Thorn stepped back for a second, watching the pained and broken figure of the Career struggle to hold back the bright red liquid gushing from her side, before slowly stalking closer to the fallen girl. Sapphire could barely push away her tears long enough to stare up at his cold and merciless face before the torrent of pain flowed from her eyes once more, but it wouldn't cause Thorn to hesitate in the slightest. Slowly, deliberately, he prodded her hands with the spear again, the second time he'd defeated her in a battle, and this time he wasn't going to let the kill slip through his fingers. She looked up at his remorseless, battle-hardened features, attempting to compose herself, before forcing her hands back to the wound pouring blood. Smiling, Thorn pushed his boot hard against her body, forcing her down and releasing what little blood she had held back before gradually allowing his spear tip to rest on her exposed neck. As she finally allowed the screams and heaving sobs to escape, Thorn grinned evilly and began to pressure the shaft of his blade. He watched her yell for help that would never come to save her; he watched as she realised she was about to die; he watched as the panic took over her body and she tried to wriggle away from the lethally sharp point of his powerful weapon. Isadora watched the girl who had haunted her break down, mere seconds from death, and realised she had been wrong. Even Thorn would never let her live more than a couple seconds. After a few minutes he allowed the tip to pierce her skin and draw a single drop of blood as Isadora rapidly formulated a new plan, drawing Serafina's knife alongside her own. She'd never survive the fight, no matter how badly she injured him with two throws, if he wasn't dead. So, as he finally ended Sapphire's misery, plunging the weapon deeper into her neck, she went all in, throwing the two knives she had, hurling them with all she had straight for his own undefended throat, and her aim held true.

 _Sapphire Dawn, District 1 Female: 3rd, Killed by Thorn, Finale_

Thorn, overcome with his intense hatred for Sapphire, didn't see the blades, but suddenly noticed the weird sound of something parting the air. He whirled, raising the spear, but too slow, as the first knife buried itself in his neck, blood bubbling forth from the wound as he realised he had been careless. The second sliced away the left side of his throat as Isadora turned and fled the site of twelve deaths, soon to be thirteen. Before Thorn was able to bandage his wound, the blood loss began to affect him, slowing his motion as he resorted in desperation to clutching at the thick liquid, but too late, he fell to the ground beside the corpse of his final kill, dying in almost the same manner a few minutes later.

 _Thorn Lancore, District 11 Male: 2nd, Killed by Isadora, Finale_

"Isadora Kent of District 6, you are the Victor of the 2nd Hunger Games!" Flavius screamed the words into the Arena as she dropped to her knees, elated at escaping with her life as the hovercraft descended to collect the nation's newest Victor.

 _Victor - District 6 Female - Isadora Kent_

 **Events**

Isadora had a good Victory Tour, in stark contrast to Eli's the year before. Almost every district welcomed her, with the exceptions of 1, 10, and 11, for Sapphire's good chances, her repeated and admittedly slightly over-the-top stabbing of Cain and Thorn's messy and supposedly undeserved end at her hands as the underdog, but most of all Thorn's family, as they had fully expected him to come back after the first defeat of Sapphire.

Isadora moves into the Victor's Village of District 6, the first to do so.

 **List of Victors**

1st HG: Eli Wendell(#1, #1, District 3)

2nd HG: Isadora Kent(#1, #1, District 6)

 **A/N: Hi again everyone! This chapter was over double the word count of the first Games, and it would be great if you could leave a review and let me know how I'm doing! Just to let everyone know, I'm sometimes going to do batch updates and sometimes I'm going to do normal updates, just because of my schedule. I hope you all stick around anyway, and don't worry if I disappear for a while because it means you'll get more chapters when I come back! I'll try not to make breaks too long though and inform you if I'm going to put it on hiatus(hopefully not!) Also, after the third Games, I need some time to continue writing because I wrote the first three before publishing this. Thanks again for your patience and see you soon!**


	5. The 3rd Hunger Games

**The 3rd Hunger Games**

 **Background**

Emerald Sevine kept her grip on the presidency, slowly increasing production quotas to the districts and reducing food rations. Josephine White also remained as Head Gamemaker, once again expanding her team of Gamemakers to create better Arenas. This year, she designed a giant maze, the Cornucopia at the centre, where there were no exits. Every death would happen within the stone walls of the maze, but this time instead of walls rising for a Finale, she and her Gamemakers prepared mechanisms to release bombs that destroyed the maze and forced the final few together much quicker than the indestructible, crushing walls. She intended this year to be shorter than the previous two, and much more action-packed, keeping tributes on their toes with random traps and gifts scattered around the massive structure.

Volunteering was introduced formally after the selfless act of Flinne attempting to enter for his brother, and now anyone could volunteer for anyone of the same gender. Private sessions and training scores were also introduced, adding another strategic element to the Games. President Emerald also decided the district viewership rate of the Games was too low, making it mandatory, and the promise of intense action lured many more Capitolites to their televisions this year.

The tributes of the 3rd Hunger Games were an average lot, with several scoring ones, twos or threes, and a few powerful tributes following Eli, Sapphire and Thorn with eights or nines. District Two produced the weakest tributes, both twelve years old and scoring ones, but this would soon change the very next year. Diamond Chulle from One stood out because at only thirteen, she had scored an impressive seven, and was definitely favoured by several Capitolites. The pair from Seven were allied once again, Keith eighteen and his district partner Cilla seventeen, and both had scored well, demonstrating talent that bespoke years of practice with their axes. The younger Kenneth from Eleven also managed to work his way into their alliance, having earned a six with his survival skills, while his district partner, volunteering for a best friend and scoring a seven, allied with the only tribute who scored a ten: powerful Hunter from Four, another trained boy with the misfortune to be Reaped who had realised his chances were still low no matter how much he practiced. His skills with the mace, trident and spear had been enough to defeat two trainers at the same time, giving him his amazing score.

 **Tribute List**

District 1: Harper Icenne, 15, 3, and Diamond Chulle, 13, 7

District 2: Oliver Siccaome, 12, 1, and Clara Nim, 12, 1

District 3: Cecil Jinn, 15, 2, and Lara Misnonne, 17, 5

District 4: Hunter Oferre, 17, 10, and Tide Clark, 14, 7

District 5: Carter Altonnore, 13, 3, and Ella Dewey, 16, 6

District 6: Axyl Levarin, 17, 5, and Pamela Onare, 18, 4

District 7: Keith Allone, 18, 9, and Cilla Mason, 17, 8

District 8: Rane Celan, 18, 6, and Elaine Oddari, 17, 2

District 9: Rye Altirie, 16, 4, and Sickle Laminere, 14, 4

District 10: William Dojar, 18, 8, and Alexis Saen, 13, 2

District 11: Kenneth Marsane, 15, 6, and Zoey Winter, 16, 7

District 12: Daryl Cissarae, 14, 3, and Quaire Jarbain, 14, 1

 **The Games**

As the tributes rose into the place where 23 among them would die, many stared at their surroundings, hoping that no, there was a way out of this death trap, but in fact the only supplies seemed to be the ones at the Cornucopia, so not a single tribute fled the Bloodbath. Keith and Cilla nodded once, aiming straight for the bounty at the very middle. Hunter stared at a knife and yet again the girls beside him, perhaps inspired by the second place and obvious fighter of the year before, Thorn Lancore. Tide knew the Cornucopia held the only thing she had showed skill in and prepared to challenge the others for her weapon. Diamond had earned a seven with traps and noticed the bag about fifteen metres from her pedestal, readying herself to snatch it and run before glimpsing the see-through plastic bag containing all sorts of materials. The only one who might challenge for the bag, she thought grimly, would be Lara from Three. Her district partner, with a two for training, could probably not use the equipment as effectively as either of them. Clara thought she'd never survive, but she wanted to fight until someone came and killed her, and poised to run in, she allowed herself to think she could fight back. Zoey followed her ally's gaze, noting the serrated dagger at the end, before aiming for the longer, thinner blade near it.

Oliver knew he had no chance at beating out actually strong tributes like Hunter and Zoey, Tide, or Keith, Cilla and Kenneth for the Victor's crown. But he had no desire to die at the hands of another tribute who had the option of drawing it out as long as they wanted. As the countdown ticked over to 10, he lifted his token, a simple piece of rock from the mines his father worked in, and threw it with all he had. The boy he had aimed at could do nothing but watch as it slid to a stop barely a centimetre from his pedestal's mines, then rolled onto one, applying the faintest pressure before he was blown to bits.

 _William Dojar, District 10 Male: 24th, Killed by Oliver, Bloodbath_

After his kill, Oliver knew he had proved a flaw in the system, proved he wasn't just another Bloodbath tribute, and quickly jumped off his own, propelling himself forward with all the power of his scrawny twelve-year-old legs. But of course, it wasn't enough, and he fell just short, exploding in a sea of blood just like his kill. The tributes on either side, Keith and Rye, fought to hold back their puke lest they too blow up as they watched the parts of their fellow tribute scatter everywhere before the gong rang.

 _Oliver Siccaome, District 2 Male: 23rd, Killed by land mines, Bloodbath_

The tributes all surged forward, but a few powerful faces led the onrush. Hunter surprisingly didn't head straight for the knife he'd selected, instead sprinting over to where Clara had tripped not even leaving her pedestal. Ignoring the chaos that was just beginning, Hunter grabbed the young and terrified girl either side of her head, barely noticing her screams as he twisted suddenly and sharply, abruptly silencing the third soul of the Games. He discarded her limp body and returned to his knife.

 _Clara Nim, District 2 Female: 22nd, Killed by Hunter, Bloodbath_

By the time Hunter's strong legs had brought him back to his chosen blade, many had reached the Cornucopia. Cilla and Keith snatched the nearest weapon without a fuss as they turned to battle Tide, but it was soon over as she bumped into a rack of spears, almost impaling herself, but allowing Cilla to sink her knife into Tide's dominant arm. As Tide wailed in pain, Keith turned away, disgusted, as he picked up an axe and discarded his mace, mercifully decapitating Tide with a single clean stroke.

 _Tide Clark, District 4 Female: 21st, Killed by Cilla and Keith, Bloodbath_

Sickle had grabbed only her namesake weapon, reasoning that nothing else would be as essential and she needed to escape quickly, many more powerful than her. There was just one flaw: Hunter. He pulled off almost the same format as Thorn's two Bloodbath kills, tripping the running girl and pulling her up and closer to his blade by the back of her tribute uniform. She noticed the dangerously sharp serrated knife he held and couldn't hold back her screams any longer, unable to twist her weapon around to counter anything he could do. He quickly looked away as he slid the knife across her throat, casting aside the girl who had been so full of life before they entered the Arena.

 _Sickle Laminere, District 9 Female: 20th, Killed by Hunter, Bloodbath_

Zoey knew there was no time to meet with her ally. She grabbed her knife and continued running, quickly selecting a young and weak girl who looked to be an easy mark, still unarmed. As she drew near, the girl noticed her and began to run, but Zoey took an elegant leap and knocked her to the ground, landing squarely on her back with a loud thump and rolling over her target with a quick push. As Zoey's knife descended on her, she raised her hands and pushed hard against the blade, completely disregarding the blood beginning to pour from her palms as she pleaded for Zoey to leave her alone, but she was too strong. The knife touched the skin above her heart, easily splitting the thin layer of clothing, and her target's pleas turned to garbled cries of fear and pain as she could hold back the blade no more.

 _Quaire Jarbain, District 12 Female: 19th, Killed by Zoey, Bloodbath_

Cilla and Keith were soon joined by their ally from Eleven, and handing him a knife, they began to choose backpacks when Keith noticed a girl trying to off powerful enemies early, sneaking up on his district partner, ally, and friend from across the horn, and he knew he was too far to do anything. He had never thrown such a massive axe as the one he had in his hands. So instead, he let out a loud yell, causing Cilla to turn, the much smaller handaxes lodging in the girl's torso as Kenneth plunged his knife into her back.

 _Alexis Saen, District 10 Female: 18th, Killed by Cilla and Kenneth, Bloodbath_

Hunter was an unstoppable force as he finally met his ally, nearly stabbing her, but she managed to block it as he tried to pull back. Another girl noticed the pair, trying to steer clear, but Zoey began to sprint, spurring her ally into action, and the two quickly closed the distance, Zoey's thrown spare knife doing nothing but slicing off a single lock of the girl's bright red hair before Hunter was on her, sawing away at her back with the serrated edge of his weapon as she slowly bled out.

 _Pamela Onare, District 6 Female: 17th, Killed by Hunter, Bloodbath_

Diamond had managed to enter the Cornucopia at the perfect time, strapping a belt of knives onto her waist before grabbing a couple more and sliding into a concealed crevice in the metal wall, watching as Cecil ran in. But she thought he might be too much, as however low the score, he was still older and stronger, and a boy too, and so she waited, and waited, and waited. He was soon joined by Daryl, and when he finally turned, it was too late to deflect the pickaxe grasped tightly by the younger boy.

 _Cecil Jinn, District 3 Male: 16th, Killed by Daryl, Bloodbath_

As soon as Cecil slid off Daryl's weapon and collapsed in a pool of blood, Diamond threw both knives, one glancing harmlessly off his pickaxe but the other causing his blood to coat the handle as she threw again, watching in horror as the blood poured out of his chest and he slumped beside his victim.

 _Daryl Cisserae, District 12 Male: 15th, Killed by Diamond, Bloodbath_

With Daryl's death, the Bloodbath ended, having claimed ten lives. Diamond had been trying to collect more weapons to refill her knife belt when she heard the footsteps of Hunter and Zoey returning and slid back into her hiding spot, knowing the moment they saw anything wrong she was dead. Luckily, her spot wasn't too uncomfortable as she tried to quiet her laboured breathing, the pair oblivious to her presence so close. She could kill either right now, but the other would likely take her out in return, so she simply lay down and tried to get comfortable.

Keith, Cilla and Kenneth had their preferred weapons and more than enough in the way of food and water. Keith cleaned off Tide's blood from his axe as soon as they were far enough from the centre of the maze while Cilla had simply switched handaxes earlier on. Kenneth's knives weren't dirty at all, despite having helped Cilla kill the girl from Ten, so he helped Keith with his larger weapon as Cilla guarded their excuse of a hideout.

Axyl had barely escaped with his life and a single packet of dried fruit. He knew he wouldn't get far without water and devoted the entirety of the first day to scouring the maze, but to no avail.

That night, Keith stayed awake on watch, and halfway through, he woke his district partner. The pair conferred on how best to take out the now-useless Kenneth for sponsors, but decided that he could live for the night.

The next day, the trio came across thirteen-year-old Carter, and as he turned to run, the Sevens nodded at each other, and Cilla grabbed her ally and easily knocked away the knife he held while Keith lunged at the young and panicking boy as he fumbled with the only weapon he had. It wasn't hard for Keith to disarm him as Carter thrashed around wildly under his weight, but Cilla stopped him from killing the other tribute as she tossed Kenneth's knife over, which he easily caught. "Kenneth." She began to address both paralysed tributes as she realised the best chance to make an impact. "This is not an Arena of survival the normal way. You are literally useless to us, and I'm surprised you weren't smart enough to notice it sooner." Their former ally started to scream with Carter as Cilla pushed him against the rocky maze floor. "Shut up. Both of you. Listen, tribute.' Cilla snarled at the boy underneath Keith's hard grasp before continuing. "In a moment, my district partner is going to let you get up. It's your choice whether you live or die now. Keith, let him out. You're coming over here." He stood up, but kept the knife pressed firmly to his throat, the axe pushed into his back as he walked stiffly to where the boy from Eleven lay pinned. "You're going to take the knife from my friend. Once you have the knife, you have a weapon, so try anything that isn't an instruction and we are going to kill you." Keith reluctantly handed over the knife, pressing the axe harder into his back. "You are going to take that knife and cut off this guy's arm here." As Kenneth began to scream louder, Carter sank beside him, lowering the knife until it rested against his right hand. When Carter's blade broke the skin, he closed his eyes against the grotesque image of the older boy unable to fight the powerhouse duo and pressed harder, but instinctively his eyes flew open and he instantly saw the blood he had caused. He stood up. "No." Cilla shrugged as if it was a mild inconvenience. "You may want to reconsider. Kenneth here is going to die, if not from you then from me. But you have a chance to survive this." Carter paused for a second, then threw the knife hard for Cilla's head. She easily ducked the blow. "That's fine. Keith!" Her district partner wasted no time grinding his face back against the stony floor and allowing fresh wounds to open. "Let him see this." Her voice was low and threatening. Keith forced his target's back upward so he watched every moment of the gruesome death. Slowly and deliberately, Cilla finished sawing off her prey's arm before switching her grip to left-handed and doing the same to his left arm. She pressed hard on Kenneth's back as she turned so she was nearly sitting on the boy's face and began to hack at his legs, tuning out the pained screams and pleas for death as she continued to torment the younger tribute. When she was satisfied Carter knew he could have saved him from a painful death and his own life as well, she twisted the boy's back sharply up, exposing his neck with a disgusting cracking sound that signified his complete paralysis. Cilla placed the handaxe against her former ally's throat, and happy with the potential sponsorship, she began to press harder until the cannon shot fired.

 _Kenneth Marsane, District 11 Male: 14th, Killed by Cilla, Day 2_

The moment it rang out, Carter knew the same fate awaited him at Keith's hands and tried to struggle against him, but feeling the handaxe pressed to his own neck he relaxed and tried not to move, pleading for the pair to give him a quicker and easier end than the one poor Kenneth had received for allying with the wrong people, since he had already understood and accepted that his death was certain. Cilla laughed as she strode over, enjoying the feeling of power that came with torturing weaker, younger tributes who were powerless to fight back. Keith stopped her, insisting it was his kill. She just nodded, sitting on Carter herself as Keith stood and brushed himself off before rolling Carter over. He hefted the massive axe, allowing it to rest against the base of Carter's neck before lifting it high over his head. Carter stopped screaming, realising this was the best Keith would ever give him, before the blade swung down and severed his head.

 _Carter Altonnore, District 5 Male: 13th, Killed by Keith, Day 3_

The screams of Kenneth and Carter had attracted the other power pair, but when Hunter saw the gruesome scene he pushed his ally away from the corner and they turned away, continuing to scour the maze for tributes as a pair. As a reward of sorts for the gruesome kills the duo had made, a sponsor of a new and sharper axe and handaxes for the District Seven tributes was quickly sent down, and Cilla hefted the Capitol blades with ease, enjoying the new, lighter feel of power they gave her. When Hunter and Zoey had left the Cornucopia unguarded, little Diamond had seen her chance and taken it, leaving her hiding spot and stuffing a backpack with food, water, and a long length of rope with which she would be able to create some form of trap, the materials collected by Lara three days prior. On her way out, she replenished her stock of knives and set out. Later that day, Elaine and Rye crossed paths, both holding knives, but Rye lunged before she could react, burying his blade into her skull and silencing her sudden scream of pain in an instant.

 _Elaine Oddari, District 8 Female: 12th, Killed by Rye, Day 3_

On the night of Day 3, Axyl knew he was going to die. Still unable to find water, he desperately clawed at the ground, dragging himself inch by inch towards where his disoriented mind believed Hunter and Zoey's camp to be, and where he would find his last hope of water. When he rounded the next corner, he pushed himself along the long passageway before collapsing, unable to continue. A few minutes later, his body stopped functioning completely and his cannon echoed across the Arena barely seconds after midnight, recording his death as Day 4.

 _Axyl Levarin, District 6 Male: 11th, Dehydration, Day 4_

When the cannon boomed, Diamond had been rigging her second trap, finally deciding she had gone far enough. Her nimble fingers easily worked the ropes she had selected, creating the knots she knew would ensnare the unlucky tribute that fell on one and act as a noose which would quickly kill them, an easy target even for her miserable attempts at knife wielding.

Hunter and Zoey were jolted awake by the hollow sound, both instinctively checking on the other's safety before managing to return to sleep.

Lara, one of the more forgotten tributes of the year, returned to check on her electrical trap that would be the inspiration for a certain Victor of District Three decades later. Unfortunately, no one had yet entered the section of maze where she had cleverly managed to deactivate the wall which had almost killed her a day before with its lethally sharp arrows and rig a trap in its place, one that she could control and activate at will.

Ella was scouring the maze for a clearing to rest and set up camp, her previous attempt to sleep broken by the walls closing in. She had barely managed to escape with her life and her backpack, and now needed a new place to sleep. As she walked, her heavy footsteps were heard by a single tribute, who quickly hid around the corner, knife gripped tightly. Hopefully she wouldn't need to use that knife against Ella. The older girl kept walking, oblivious to Diamond's presence, when she tripped over something and went crashing to the floor, but was quickly hauled back up. She'd managed to find Diamond's only complete trap. When Diamond saw her body hanging off her rope, the knife she had held laying useless just barely out of her reach, she had to hold back her puke as she turned away from the thrashing girl. Moments later, the cannon fired and she turned back to see the now-blue face of a girl once so full of life.

 _Ella Dewey, District 5 Female: 10th, Killed by Diamond, Day 4_

Diamond quickly got to work resetting her trap, but it was somewhat noisy, and coupled with the echoes she thought weren't too noticeable. She only realised otherwise when she heard footsteps nearby, quickly returning to her hiding spot, her hold on the knife so tight her knuckles were white. When Hunter's face appeared around the corner, she tried to quiet her panicked breathing as his ally followed not far behind. The pair walked on, cautious, yet oblivious to her proximity as he tripped over the same rope which had caused Ella's death. Like the girl before him, he was jerked sharply up, suspended and beginning to asphyxiate from the rope's tight grip. Fortunately for him, and not so much for Diamond, he was different to Ella in that he was not alone, and Zoey wasted no time sawing away at the tough threads suffocating her ally. He was soon safely back on the ground, quickly collecting his selected weapon for the Games, the mace, and began to scour the area for the tribute who had nearly just taken out the strongest. As he rounded the corner, Diamond saw the broad, spiked head of his weapon and ran screaming from the intersection, her knife held ever tighter as the adrenaline and panic drove her on. Zoey quickly followed her ally, flinging her first throwing knife at the fleeing figure of the young girl before sprinting as hard as she could just to keep pace with Hunter. The blade cut into Diamond's right arm, and she knew that if she had had any slim chance at fighting off the pair earlier, it was all gone with the wound. Her screams intensified as she continued to sprint, but after all, she was only thirteen, and a maze is not exactly the best place to be running for your life. She hastily whirled around corners, but suddenly stopped screaming as she stared in despair at the wall looming in front of her. She'd hit a dead end. She quickly turned, hoping to return to another turning before they caught up, but found herself looking straight at the older boy, his weapon glinting ominously as she began to scream again. She knew she couldn't escape this time, and raised her knife, hoping at least to injure one of them. She clenched her weapon harder as Hunter shoved the handle of his mace into the belt he'd found in the horn and taken the knives out from. He removed the spear from his mini armoury, the sound it made as it slid smoothly out and the ease of his action only causing Diamond to want even more to take him down, no matter how much of a long shot it was. She shifted the grip on her left knife, preparing to throw, when her screams were silenced by the spear that protruded from her heart. The knife she managed to release glanced harmlessly off the wall, barely covering half the distance to her target.

 _Diamond Chulle, District 1 Female: 9th, Killed by Zoey and Hunter, Day 4_

He retrieved his spear with a low sigh. She was only thirteen. What did she do to deserve this death? What did any of them do, really, apart from having the wrong ancestors? Zoey sensed the mood change and did her best to give him space; after all, the last thing she wanted was to be the next person on the wrong end of his spear. They returned to the horn, really not wanting to kill any other unlucky teenager, but knowing it was their lives at stake. The pair rested for the remainder of the day, enjoying the relative peace of their camp and status as powerhouses.

Diamond's death left the Final 8: Harper Icenne from District 1, Lara Misnonne from District 3, Hunter Oferre from District 4, Keith Allone and Cilla Mason from District 7, Rane Celan from District 8, Rye Altirie from District 9 and Zoey Winter from District 11.

Cilla and Keith continued to search the maze, but to no avail, the tributes were nowhere near their section after the screams of their last victims. Harper knew he had to find another water source soon, but he really didn't want to chance the Cornucopia; the prolonged screams of Kenneth and Carter had to be caused by either alliance, but he didn't want to risk such a long death. Lara, ever the perfect, intelligent girl, continued to work on her trap, laying the wires across the walls and preparing two of the three bottles of water she had grabbed to flood the clearing for her power surge. She wired the electrical mechanism to a switch she could activate should another tribute enter the range of her trap. Rane had been the explorer of the Games, not hunting tributes per se but merely wandering the maze. Rye, another forgotten tribute, had plenty of supplies and hoped to simply remain under the radar until the Finale.

The next morning, Rane continued to wander the endless corridors of their prison when he noticed the walls appearing to shift slightly closer. He felt a little creeped out, but decided to continue walking, hoping it had been a figment of his imagination, when the imposing structures began to rumble, closing in quickly with him trapped in the middle. He broke into a run, hoping to escape the invincible stone. When he neared the end of the corridor, and, it seemed, the end of the trap, the walls were so close he could feel them on either side, and they were pressing more, about to crush him. He sprinted, taking a leap for the end, but fell just short, the wall squashing his body in midair and his insides scattering messily across the edge as his cannon fired.

 _Rane Celan, District 8 Male: 8th, Crushed by walls, Day 5_

Hunter and Zoey continued their search, stumbling into another trap: Lara's. She noticed the pair at the same time they saw her, and reached up to flick her switch and kill them both. As the trap activated, she realised she'd messed up; perfect girl had made her first mistake, and from the looks of it it would also be her last. The current passed harmlessly across the walls, neither of the alliance shocked by the initial jolt and neither stupid enough to touch the walls after. She knew she'd forgotten to hook up the water as well, and in her haste, she'd forgotten to even just knock over the bottles and send the liquid spilling across the ground. The Career saw her push over the mechanism, and when he didn't feel a thing at her attempt at a trap, he raised the mace. "Did you actually just try to kill us both?" Lara began to scramble backward as he slowly closed the gap. "No way… it's just my little stress switch… please just let me go I didn't attack you!" The girl screamed louder as he strode near. He continued calmly as he neared to barely a metre from his range. "You didn't injure either of us, no, but I doubt someone who scored not horribly and who is from Three would flick a 'stress switch' with two strong tributes attacking her. No, there was a trap somewhere, but now you made a mistake and have to bluff out of it, don't you, Lara?" He laid emphasis on the name he made sure he'd known, just like all the others. As Lara made to punch the trained boy, he was quicker, slamming the mace down, her screams turning into unintelligible nonsense as a few quick strikes caved in her skull.

 _Lara Misnonne, District 3 Female: 7th, Killed by Hunter, Day 5_

The next day, another boy became the second victim of the maze. Harper had found a pool of water that appeared crystal-clear and the safest he would find. Without iodine, he chanced drinking it and promptly began to convulse on the floor, the acidic liquid eating away at his stomach. He was almost relieved when the pain suddenly subsided.

 _Harper Icenne, District 1 Male: 6th, Killed by poisonous water, Day 5_

At Final 5, the Gamemakers decided it was time to force the Finale, their bombs they so desperately wanted to show off going to kill one of the tributes. Being camped at the Cornucopia, Hunter and Zoey were never in danger from the explosions, and Cilla and Keith were both speedy runners, putting away their weapons and sprinting on for the horn, signs somehow having appeared to ensure they weren't lost in the maze. That left only Rye. He kept running, having almost as much stamina as the other four, but the Gamemakers wanted a bloody showdown between the two deadly alliances, yet wanted their bombs to cause death as well. One explosion, particularly close to Rye, knocked him to the floor, where a falling rock swiftly impaled his arm. He attempted to drag the backpack he had obtained days ago to cover him, but another explosion blew away his legs before more sharp stones shot towards him, one slicing at his forehead and another landing square in his heart. His cannon finally marked his death as he released his grip on his possessions.

 _Rye Altirie, District 9 Male: 5th, Killed by bomb explosions and falling debris, Day 6_

After Rye had been killed by the bombs, the Gamemakers slowed it slightly, knowing the alliances would provide more than enough blood if they all made it to the Cornucopia complete. And they definitely did.

The pair from Seven approached an entrance and noticed the other alliance looking around, constantly checking the many entrances to their camp. Cilla, thinking quickly despite the seemingly endless explosions, shushed her ally and lifted one of her handaxes, readying it for a throw. Unfortunately, from their position, the stronger tribute, the boy who was actually trained, was hidden from view by the magnificent building, presumably watching the other sides of the maze. As such, she'd have to settle for killing Zoey before they were noticed. She turned to check Keith was prepared, and nearly revealed their presence from her shock at facing his giant axe. It was now his turn to keep her quiet, and she soon regained common sense, aiming her weapon for a headshot. She watched intently as Zoey continued her sweeping pattern, waiting for the best chance at killing the girl. The instant she passed their hiding spot, Cilla stepped out and threw the axe. By the time the younger girl noticed the movement and turned back, Cilla's blade had lodged in her skull, and she barely had time to scream her ally's name as both a warning and a plea for help that would be too late before she collapsed to the ground, dead.

 _Zoey Winter, District 11 Female: 4th, Killed by Cilla, Finale_

Hunter heard the faint shout of the girl who had been such a loyal ally and who had become a dear friend over the days of death. He turned quickly, running around the golden structure to seek the tribute who had killed someone so close to him. Cilla and Keith were sprinting down the hallway when they noticed each other. He drew the spear in his left hand to join the mace he gripped tightly in his right and readied himself to face the charging pair. As they neared, he swung the mace out for her head, only just spotting the huge blade swinging down and deflecting it with his precise technique and a lot of strength. With his stroke blocked, Keith drew back the massive weapon for another blow, but Cilla's weapon was knocked aside by the power Hunter had thrown into the mace's attack and her skull was swiftly caved in as she lashed out, wounding his mace arm badly and forcing him to drop the powerful weapon he had loved.

 _Cilla Mason, District 7 Female: 3rd, Killed by Hunter, Finale_

This left only Hunter and Keith. With relatively close training scores, many believed that the injury of the younger boy with the higher score and subsequent inability to wield a weapon in each hand would be the decisive factor in the final battle. As strong as Hunter was, his brute strength was matched by Keith's and after several blocks where only technique saved him, the frustrated Seven Male raised the axe high, leaving himself completely open. When the other boy made to stab the spear through his exposed body, barely a second away from piercing Keith's torso, he realised the axe would be faster and much more lethal cleaving his head in two compared to a stomach injury and hurriedly and slightly sloppily brought the weapon back up to parry the stroke. The extra power involved in the strike and the tiny weakness in his technique proved decisive, the spear snapping in half as the axe continued its descent virtually unopposed. He scrambled to dodge the oncoming attack, and the blade ended up 'only' lodging in his other arm. Now completely incapable of defending himself, the seventeen-year-old could only watch as the axe descended again. Without the option of blocking the strike, he easily slid aside, the blade passing harmlessly through the space where his head had been. Keith realised that now his axe wouldn't be quick enough to land another blow and quickly discarded it to the side. The capable boy struck fast, landing a solid punch to his adversary's gut. As the younger boy made to kick Keith, he reached out a hand and caught the leg firmly, trying to twist it and force Hunter to either lose balance or break the limb. He felt his leg bend awkwardly and the pressure intensifying and knew it was time to try out his best move, one he had practised day after day in an effort to hold his body long enough to execute a perfect strike. Keith thought he had the win secured before he saw the movement his opponent was performing. Hunter stopped resisting his attack, instead using it to launch himself upward and into a second kick. He used the power behind the twist to throw himself into a midair turn, lashing out his other leg to strike Keith. The kick connected with Keith's face, the crunch of his bones breaking sickening for both of them as Keith released his hold on the other foot. Hunter felt a burst of satisfaction as even with both arms wounded he managed to injure Keith. The frustration boiled over as Keith drew a hidden knife he had concealed within his shirt and lunged for his opponent. The blade scraped across Hunter's face, opening a gash on his cheek as Keith pulled back. He suddenly attacked again, slicing at the trained boy's throat. Unencumbered by the weight of his axe, he was much quicker and Hunter couldn't react quickly enough before he was bleeding out onto the stone floor.

 _Hunter Oferre, District 4 Male: 2nd, Killed by Cilla and Keith, Finale_

"Keith Allone of District 7, you are the Victor of the 3rd Hunger Games!" The words echoed through the hollow space left by the death of twenty-three others, one of whom he'd known personally, as Flavius announced the newest Victor. Keith quickly discarded his bloodstained knife and fell sobbing beside the body of his final kill. "I'm sorry… but one of us had to die…" He trailed off, overwhelmed by the grief and regret of the twenty-three deaths for his survival. Three of which he'd had a hand in. He remembered the screams of pain from Tide as he sliced off her head. He remembered the screams and pleas of Carter, only thirteen. He remembered, all too vividly, Hunter's stoic silence at the loss of both arms and the move he'd perfectly pulled off. He vowed never to forget the twenty-three the Capitol would leave behind in a week or two.

 _Victor - District 7 Male - Keith Allone_

 **Events**

Keith's Victory Tour goes alright, Districts 4, 5, and 11 all screaming at him but 7 elated to receive its first Victor. The other districts just wanted to go back to life. They did not yell at him but not many listened to his speeches. The older sister of the boy from Eleven, Kenneth Marsane, his ally that his district partner tortured and killed over an hour, assaulted the nearest Peacekeeper in an attempt to get a gun to shoot Keith, but was shot and killed by another Peacekeeper, and the father of the boy from Four, Hunter Oferre, who trained his son for the Games, tried to jump onto the stage and stab Keith, but was also quickly shot by Peacekeepers.

Keith moves into the Victor's Village of District 7, the first Victor to do so.

 **List of Victors**

1st HG: Eli Wendell (#1, #1, District 3)

2nd HG: Isadora Kent (#1, #1, District 6)

3rd HG: Keith Allone (#1, #1, District 7)

 **A/N: And here we are, the 3rd Games! Next time: The first Career Pack! I'm gonna go write the next one now, see you all soon!**


	6. The 4th Hunger Games

**The 4th Hunger Games**

 **Background**

The previous Games had been full of blood, in stark contrast to the first two years. As such, Head Gamemaker Josephine retained her post, yet again expanding her team to create more energetic Finale mechanisms after the success of the bombs. President Emerald had to quell uprisings in Eleven after the prolonged kill of Kenneth who had merely allied in the wrong Arena and the way Zoey never had a chance to defend herself. Without any other districts backing them, Eleven was soon subdued by Peacekeepers, and their quotas were doubled and food export nearly halved. Many died in the weeks following the failed rebellion due to lack of food, exhaustion or just Peacekeeper violence.

The Arena this year was a well-constructed beach that held plenty of water; time would tell if the tributes from Four could make use of it. The Cornucopia was near the water's edge and was made so some supplies would be claimed by the tides each night for whichever powerhouse alliance made camp there. A couple of smaller islands were visible further out, across the water, which provided some incentive to force tributes into the raging currents. The Cornucopia provided oxygen packs for those swimming out and there were several inflatable boats packed tightly in small bags right at the back of the horn. After the powerful showings of Sapphire and Hunter in previous years, the richer districts took to training their children to have better chances, the poorer districts not able to afford such elaborate training centres. This year, the boy from One, girl from Two and both from Four were volunteers, hoping to win for their district after having trained for two years on Sapphire's inspiration, while the girl from One was semi-trained but did not volunteer. They were the first tributes who did not volunteer because of a connection to the Reaped child. All five of the trained tributes formed an alliance, sensing the others would be the greatest threats, and so the first Career Pack was formed.

The Careers, even without a predecessor to compare scores with, were clearly above the others, the strongest outlier tying scores with the weakest fully trained Career. The boy from One was skilled with a sword and knives, but he never attempted to demonstrate accuracy he lacked in using a bow or throwing knives. His district partner was a year older, but not quite as trained and so wasn't a volunteer, so she scored two points lower with the throwing knives making up for her partner. The pair had trained together occasionally and would be quite strong as allies. The girl from Two was like Roxanne, preferring the bow or throwing knives and if it went to close-quarters the heavier knives. She came off as mysterious yet deadly, the daughter of one of the Academy trainers. District Four produced a stellar pair, both tributes stealing the show with the absolute highest scores of the Pack. The boy was strong and preferred brute force weapons such as the baton and mace but was also capable of wielding a sword quickly if it became necessary. The girl was a friendly and outgoing person who easily got along with all her allies, and she demonstrated her strengths in the traditional Four weapons: the trident and the spear. She also showed off her abilities in throwing, earning a nine. Overall, a ten, two nines, an eight and a seven were scored by the Pack, a collective score which would certainly be improved upon in the years to come.

Among the other districts, a single eight and two sevens were earned. Diana Jix from Seven was strong as normal, defeating the trainer set to spar with her easily. The only thing limiting her score at eight was her attempt at the plants test, where she scored an okay fifty percent. Sevens were earned by Quiere Koccan of District 5 and Corinth Akide of District 10. Quiere showed off snares and electrical traps, the brainiac of the Games, while Corinth, having worked the slaughterhouse in Ten with her father her entire life, managed to demolish the stuffed dummies with a sword and knife. Diana and Corinth noticed the strength of the five Careers and each other and quickly formed an alliance, while Quiere decided to go solo, not trusting any allies after Kenneth's gruesome death the year prior which still haunted him when he came out of the Arena. Now I'm sure many think I spoiled that Quiere will be Victor, but my words could mean he came out Victor, or it could mean he came out in a coffin, so no spoilers. :) The remainder of the outlier tributes were average, scoring between six and one in their training sessions.

 **Tribute List**

District 1: Gold Jarrinn, 16, 9, and Roxanne Oneure, 17, 7

District 2: Karine Solan, 14, 5, and Olivia Ciall, 18, 8

District 3: Nolan Flinth, 18, 6, and Cojarne Quelthe, 12, 3

District 4: Harbor Diare, 18, 10, and Celine Monnere, 17, 9

District 5: Quiere Koccan, 16, 7, and Selina Ocifera, 15, 3

District 6: Icill Ushimno, 18, 6, and Sara Hoifij, 15, 4

District 7: Jae Sereil, 14, 3, and Diana Jix, 18, 8

District 8: Liam Mier, 13, 2, and Elsa Fossin, 16, 4

District 9: Cairn Akober, 15, 2, and Corina Devan, 17, 5

District 10: Wallen Poike, 13, 2, and Corinth Akide, 17, 7

District 11: Kareem Ocer, 16, 6, and Gaia Erlene, 13, 4

District 12: Mack Solare, 15, 5, and Bella Undersee, 12, 1

 **The Games**

The tributes rose into the Arena to the sound of the currently-soothing waves lapping against the shore. The lack of cover near the Cornucopia and the attraction of the islands across the ocean combined with the oxygen packs required for the journey tempted many to risking the Bloodbath. The dry sand stretched on for miles and the sea on the other side seemed unending, so many also tried to obtain water at the fight and only one tribute fled: Bella from Twelve. This resulted in the largest Bloodbath yet, even if the two pre-Games kills last year were counted as Bloodbath.

The Careers anxiously scanned the circle for their allies, hoping to rack up kills aplenty during the melee. They prepared to charge the horn for their preferred weapons. Quiere, like Diamond, saw a bag he really wanted from inside the horn filled with all sorts of tools, and he could even spot a long rope coiled inside the translucent pack. He knew it would be his, that is, if he didn't die first. Diana and Corinth locked eyes before readying to run in for their favourite weapons. They were surely the greatest threat to the powerful Career Pack. Nolan began to sweat as he spotted Gold only three pedestals to his left. He had to chance it though. He didn't want to kill any other tribute who didn't choose to be here, who had it just like he did, ripped from their families and friends back home and sent off to die just like that. He decided to only kill those making kills of their own without having to defend themselves from another tribute.

The gong rang out and immediately every single tribute surged forward, seeking the lifesaving bounty held by the Horn of Plenty. Harbor was undoubtedly the fastest, and once inside the Cornucopia, he grabbed the nearest mace and turned, easily burying it in a young boy's head and staining the pristine sand with the blood of the unlucky tribute.

 _Liam Mier, District 8 Male: 24th, Killed by Harbor, Bloodbath_

Olivia quickly joined her ally with the supplies, snatching a bow and running out. She spotted a solitary fleeing figure vanishing into the distance and took her long shot, firing three arrows within the second. Two fell short, but the third landed squarely in her target's neck, and she smiled grimly as the girl collapsed.

 _Bella Undersee, District 12 Female: 23rd, Killed by Olivia, Bloodbath_

Gold was not far behind either, his trained hands finding their way to the sword he'd always loved and he turned to see a black-haired girl attempting to kill off the strongest threats early with a sword of her own. He easily raised the blade, allowing hers to clang harmlessly off it before striking with lightning-fast precision. One moment, she was holding a sword, about to off a Career, and the next her sword was lying useless on the sand beside her, the stump where her left leg had been spurting blood, and she fell to the ground with a low thud as Gold drove the sword into her neck.

 _Cojarne Quelthe, District 3 Female: 22nd, Killed by Gold, Bloodbath_

Quiere knew he had to escape, but he wanted to make a kill first. If he wanted sponsors for whatever his traps required, he'd have to impress them right off the bat, and so he grabbed a knife and lunged for Karine, the older boy plunging the dagger into his heart and ending his Games in an instant.

 _Karine Solan, District 2 Male: 21st, Killed by Quiere, Bloodbath_

As Karine began to slump, Quiere released his grip on the knife and took off running, but Olivia had seen him kill her district partner. Career or not, she'd seen Karine around the streets before, and she desperately wanted to draw out Quiere's death. While Quiere fled the chaos with his pack, oblivious to the trained tribute's anger, Olivia grabbed a belt of knives, hastily strapping them on as she ran. She drew one, quickly sheathing her bow, and lunged, tackling the younger boy to the ground. She laid the knife against his throat and watched in satisfaction as he began to plead for a chance to live. Slowly, Olivia removed the knife from his neck and laughed softly as a look of relief spread over his face before driving the weapon home into his skull. He cried out in pain as blood gushed from the wound, but she drew out the blade and plunged it into his heart, silencing his cries immediately.

 _Quiere Koccan, District 5 Male: 20th, Killed by Olivia, Bloodbath_

Diana and Corinth had come to realise that the only Career who had been Reaped had yet to make a kill and prove herself. As the girl grabbed her throwing knife belt, Diana ran forward, raising the handaxe and slicing at her. Roxanne barely managed to turn in time to see the small weapon cut the air next to her head and only just raised her blade in time. The eighteen-year-old snatched a second handaxe from a nearby table and began to battle the Career, feinting a headshot and quickly lashing at her body as she moved to block. The first axe lodged itself in her torso mere millimetres from her heart, and Roxanne groaned softly as she felt the blood pour from her wound. Diana was disgusted by how easily she could kill and how cold and strategic her thoughts were and soon plunged the other axe into Roxanne's head, ending her misery as Diana withdrew the weapons and turned, her full-size axe strapped to her back.

 _Roxanne Oneure, District 1 Female: 19th, Killed by Diana, Bloodbath_

Icill had just escaped the horn, about to flee the melee with a sword and pack, when he saw an oxygen pack, and in a split-second he decided to go for it and explore the islands. As he neared to barely a step away from grabbing the equipment, a slightly younger outlier girl arrived, snatching the oxygen pack and shrugging it onto her back. Icill thought quickly, lunging for the tribute and piercing her neck with the blade. As she collapsed to the sandy floor, he removed it, beginning to wipe off the blood that had collected as he started to leave the chaos.

 _Corina Devan, District 9 Female: 18th, Killed by Icill, Bloodbath_

But one person had spotted Icill. As he ran, the boy from Three, armed with almost the same as Icill, a sword and backpack, quickly gained on him, his first strike cutting deep into Icill's back and severing his spine, freezing the boy where he was as Nolan trudged closer, raising his sword. Icill knew he couldn't survive the injury and being paralysed near the Career camp and asked for Nolan to hurry up and get out. A few seconds later, he slumped to the ground, his blood pouring from a cut on his neck and staining the sand around him as his killer snatched the oxygen pack and fled the scene.

 _Icill Ushimno, District 6 Male: 17th, Killed by Nolan, Bloodbath_

Gaia had been hiding in the Cornucopia, hoping to salvage some supplies when the Careers left, when the boy from Twelve found her spot. She started to shake at the knife he held, but he smiled gently, taking the box next to her as she quietly mimed her plan.

Diana had a young and weak district partner, and she spotted him, thinking about just how unlucky the boy had been. She decided she wanted him to join the alliance, and Corinth sprinted over to Jae, nearly grabbing his arm before he suddenly fell face first onto the sand, a spear protruding from his back. Corinth looked up to see Celine's emotionless face before Diana was beside her. The Career turned and quickly ran back into the horn, whereby they too departed the Bloodbath.

 _Jae Sereil, District 7 Male: 16th, Killed by Celine, Bloodbath_

Now, the Bloodbath seemed over, all the tributes having fled the scene of death, and the four Careers gathered in the horn and began to sort supplies. A few minutes later, confused as to why the cannons hadn't yet fired, Celine brought up her concern to her district partner, who quickly assembled the group to search their campsite, explaining the thought that Celine had and asking Gold and Olivia to check the outside. As he searched through the boxes with Celine, he turned to her and raised the issue of allies and backstabs. She told him confidently that they, through the alliance, had all agreed to a Final 4 pact and that earlier backstabs would not happen. He respected Celine, but he just felt that Gold would betray him much earlier, and said so, whereupon she realised that nothing could convince him. She nodded. "If you want to, I'm not getting involved, but so long as you don't attack me I won't care." That seemed to placate the de facto leader and he resumed his throwing aside crates. Harbor flung away a box and found a young girl staring back at him. Raising the baton he'd found when organising supplies, he brought it down hard on the girl's head. When she cried out in pain, he sliced at her arm with his sword, laughing at the girl's pleas for help or to be spared as he sheathed both weapons and snatched her by the neck, lifting her off the ground as she writhed in his tight grip. As she started to go blue from the cutoff of air, he loosened his grip, grabbing her at the waist and smashing her head into the metal floor of the horn while she cried.

 _Gaia Erlene, District 11 Female: 15th, Killed by Harbor, Bloodbath_

After the kill, Celine continued searching, and her efforts paid off as she saw Gaia's semi-ally hiding within a box near Gaia. She was not as sadistic as Harbor and watched the boy cry and hope that he would somehow survive. She beckoned the young boy out as she raised the trident. The instant the terrified tribute emerged from the crate, blood bubbled from the wound to his heart, and Celine withdrew her weapon as Mack bled out on the gold floor.

 _Mack Solare, District 12 Male: 14th, Killed by Celine, Bloodbath_

On Mack's death, the cannons began to fire, the air of finality to them scaring many of the surviving outliers. Eleven shots for eleven dead. That night, no one dared to venture out, apart from the Careers of course, but with the others all hiding well the Careers had a fruitless night.

The Careers had almost all the supplies, but when the waves came at night only Harbor and Celine were happy for the memories, before noticing some meagre supplies vanishing into the darkness. No one wanted to risk their life in the ocean for a single bottle of water, and the supplies were lost for good.

Diana and Corinth had escaped further inland, both having obtained preferred weapons and a backpack. Corinth opened hers to reveal two bottles of water, one empty and one full, a small bottle of iodine and a rope. Diana's held seven packs of food, along with a matchbox, piece of paper and pencil, presumably for creating some form of map. The pair settled down for the night within a beach hut.

Nolan had hidden behind the Cornucopia the instant the Careers stopped searching. When he heard the powerful alliance leaving, he got to work hooking up the oxygen pack and dived into the sea, slowly propelling himself towards the nearer of the two islands.

Wallen had no supplies whatsoever. Five metres into the run to the horn, he had seen Harbor killing Liam and turned to flee. He knew from previous Games that dehydration would become a problem, so decided to stay near the sea, further from the horn.

Elsa had survived with only three oxygen packs. She had vanished into the water, swimming painfully slowly as she didn't know what to do. Heading for the same island as the boy from Three, the audience hoped to see a bloody showdown.

The next day, the Careers ventured out again, this time coming across a sleeping boy who had not realised that dawn had come several hours ago. Gold claimed the kill, gripping his sword as he kicked Cairn awake. The younger boy's eyes shot open and he screamed as he noticed the Career looming over him. He tried to scramble to his feet as Gold planted his foot firmly on the boy's chest, forcing him back down while his allies watched. The Career got an idea, putting his entire weight on Cairn as he stood atop the screaming child. He sliced open Cairn's stomach with his blade and allowed the boy to sit up, watching in satisfaction as he saw the extent of the wound and attempted to hold his guts in. Beginning to tire of the boy's screams, Gold slashed at the pinned boy's chest, opening another massive gash. Gold bent down and grabbed the boy, lifting him so he could no longer cover the two cuts. Grabbing the boy either side of his head, he watched as Cairn thrashed around, attempting to pry away the Career's hands, but his struggles suddenly ceased as Gold pushed hard, snapping his neck.

 _Cairn Akober, District 9 Male: 13th, Killed by Gold, Day 2_

The cannon told Diana it was time to get hunting for tributes if they wanted sponsors. The pair scoured the beach for the remainder of the day, but found no one. Wallen's dehydration grew, becoming noticeable, and he decided to drink the saltwater. This only caused him greater thirst, and he tried to push away the feeling of impending death as he settled down once more.

The next day, the pair came across Selina from Five. When she noticed them, she tried to run, but the older alliance gained quickly, and soon after her stamina gave out. She fell, panting, to the sandy ground, and it wasn't hard for Corinth to cut her throat with her sword as Selina tried to rise to start running once more.

 _Selina Ocifera, District 5 Female: 12th, Killed by Corinth, Day 3_

That day, Wallen's thirst also grew so great he decided to risk it. As the Careers happily left their supplies, Wallen ran in, snatching a bottle of water and chugging it down eagerly. However, as he grabbed another and made to leave, Olivia heard the noises and returned to check, calling her allies closer as she obtained the kill. She raised the knife and sent it spinning at a running Wallen, and he fell onto the now-bloodied sand, paralysed and unable to move, when she stalked closer, slowly cutting the back of his neck so he quickly died.

 _Wallen Poike, District 10 Male: 11th, Killed by Olivia, Day 3_

Now, with ten tributes remaining, Harbor decided he'd had enough. The pack, gathered around Wallen's body, was too large at this few tributes, and he decided killing the prone Olivia would leave himself exposed, but he didn't want to attack a district partner who'd promised to allow him to betray them. So he lunged at Gold before the boy could react, his sword easily breaking the skin and puncturing his heart as Gold's sword clattered to the floor.

 _Gold Jarrinn, District 1 Male: 10th, Killed by Harbor, Day 3_

Olivia rose and saw Harbor slashing her ally. In training, the girl from Twelve, Olivia's first kill of the Games, had actually stolen Celine's training knife, and Olivia was the only Career to see it. She had excused herself from their sparring and stalked over to Bella, promising she would be her first kill, a promise she had indeed made good on in the Arena. Fiercely loyal, the girl plunged the knife coated with Wallen's blood into Harbor's neck as Celine stepped closer to run him through with her spear. Harbor collapsed atop Gold as Olivia turned to her final ally and knocked away her weapon, tackling Celine to the floor and placing the knife at her throat.

 _Harbor Diare, District 4 Male: 9th, Killed by Olivia and Celine, Day 3_

Harbor's death left the Final 8: Olivia Ciall from District 2, Nolan Flinth from District 3, Celine Monnere from District 4, Sara Hoifij from District 6, Diana Jix from District 7, Elsa Fossin from District 8, Corinth Akide from District 10 and Kareem Ocer from District 11.

Celine's reputation and easy banter with Olivia in training, along with having stabbed Harbor as well, paid off, and she spoke calmly, seemingly unafraid of dying in the Games as Olivia was finally convinced Celine was not in on Harbor's plan and allowed her to stand back up. The death of two Careers only served to tighten the bond between them and they got along better than ever before.

A deathless Day 4 did not mean an uneventful Day 4. Elsa finally arrived at the island, having used all three of her oxygen packs, while Nolan had been preparing his shelter. Elsa managed to sneak up on the distracted boy, and without a weapon, found a nearby sharp rock. But the scrabbling noise attracted Nolan, and he turned to see the girl raising a rock to attempt to kill him. Nolan raised his sword and stared at her. She didn't know Nolan only killed the tributes he saw make a kill and prepared to fight for her life as there was no way she would survive jumping into the sea even if he didn't kill her first. As the pair glared at each other, Nolan suddenly struck, his sword bashing away her hand and from the pain she felt also breaking several bones. She instinctively dropped the rock and cried out, clasping her hand to her chest as Nolan pushed her to the ground. Now prone on the sand, she had no chance of killing the boy or even surviving with his sword already out. She closed her eyes and thought of the family and best friend she would never see again as Nolan reached down and pulled her back up, her weight nearly dragging him down beside her. Her eyes flew open as she glanced nervously at the sword he had sheathed as he helped her back to her feet. They agreed to share the island and parted ways, Nolan promising he wouldn't be the one to kill her unless she made Final Two.

The next day, Sara from 6 stumbled across Diana and Corinth. Being behind them, she wasn't yet seen, and slowly began to back away from the pair. She knew if she made a single sound, a single movement that caught their attention, she was dead. She had just a knife to fend off two much stronger tributes with their favourite weapons; they were actually able to use them to some extent while hers was in a way for display only - she'd never be able to kill with it. Unfortunately, the Gamemakers wanted more action. So how exactly did they force a confrontation with no mutts at the time and the walls not able to rise as that would attract everyone? They changed the wind in the Arena. The sand stirred up by Sara's feet started blowing closer to the alliance, and Corinth thought it might be a good idea to check their backs quickly. And it was here that Sara accepted her death. Seeing the turn, she started to run, her legs pumping as she raced across the soft sand. Perhaps too soft, for suddenly her left leg sank deep into the ground. She struggled to free her leg from the fierce grip, but only succeeded in trapping her other leg. Unable to move, she could only scream and watch helplessly as Corinth drew her sword and slashed at her neck. Blood spurted from the wound, colouring the sand around her bright red along with Corinth's and Diana's Arena trainers as her already-trapped body flopped over into the reddened sand that had ensnared the girl.

 _Sara Hoifij, District 6 Female: 8th, Killed by Corinth and Diana, Day 5_

Not finding anyone else on the beaches, Olivia and Celine decided to go check the islands. They packed one of the inflatable rafts in Celine's backpack, had Olivia don an oxygen pack and inflated another raft to sail out, the oars in the back gripped by both remaining Careers.

Diana and Corinth continued searching the Arena for the forgotten three: Nolan, Elsa and Kareem from Three, Eight and Eleven respectively. Halfway to the island, the Careers' raft overturned, throwing both Olivia and Celine into the choppy sea. Fortunately for Olivia, she had decided to spare Celine, a tribute from Four, after Harbor's betrayal, and now as she clung tightly to her oar for her life, Celine noticed and discarded her own oar, swimming strongly over to where her ally was buffeted by the rough waves. Olivia began to kick forward as Celine held her afloat, propelling the pair towards the island where they could unfold their spare raft. Suddenly, as they neared the island, a giant wave swept the two allies away from their destination, forcing the pair to expend energy countering its push. Celine told Olivia to stop fighting the wave, that the current here was too strong. After the wave died down, it took the Careers a whole day to make it back to the island.

But they did eventually make it back. And Nolan's shelter was all too obvious, drawing the attention of both tributes. They had yet to see all the remaining tributes, and they wondered if at least one of the people in that leafy hut was in an alliance, especially Diana and Corinth. The Career duo readied their weapons, Celine stepping up to the door and hefting the spear casually as Olivia drew an arrow and nocked it to her bow in preparation to be Celine's ranged backup. The girl from the fishing district nodded to her friend and kicked away the leaves near the doorway, exposing a boy holding his sword defensively in the corner of the hut. Upon noticing the girl, Nolan kicked at the leaves trapping him in the corner, giving himself an escape route as Celine closed in. He slashed at the girl, knocking away her spear and forcing her to waste time retrieving it as he zigzagged away from the leaves and sprinted for the ocean, where he would be safe from Olivia's arrow barrage. As an arrow sped past either side of his head, he took a leap of faith, clutching his sword tightly against his chest as his body sped toward the water. As he splashed against the surface, diving under with the oxygen pack strapped tightly to his back, Celine emerged from the wreckage of his shelter, asking Olivia where their target vanished to so quickly even though deep down she was elated with a chance to prove herself in her home environment. The girl from the masonry district hastily unstrapped the oxygen pack and handed it to her ally who was much more capable in the water. Celine wasted no time, slinging on the equipment and grasping her trident for underwater battles before she dove elegantly into the ocean, a stark contrast to Nolan's rushed and sloppy motion as she soared gracefully through the air and entered the water, immediately spotting Nolan flopping under the water attempting to look for her. It wasn't hard to swim up behind him as he suddenly tried to turn, slicing out for Celine, but the skilled, trained girl who had to practice every day as part of her job easily slid backwards, just out of his range. He swam closer, pushing himself forward and thrusting out the sword again, but Celine had no difficulty evading the blade before impaling his leg with her trident, puncturing the skin in three different points. Blood began to flow into the water, mixing with the crystal-clear sea and dyeing the liquid red as Nolan slashed uselessly at the younger girl. She kicked upward, ascending over his head and stabbing down, and this time she was going for the kill. She plunged the trident into his skull and allowed him to float off the prongs, leaving his bloodstained body to slowly lose all its blood to the water.

 _Nolan Flinth, District 3 Male: 7th, Killed by Celine, Day 6_

The Careers reasoned that their latest kill had been pretty strong out of the water as Celine had seen him take out Icill but didn't seem to have allies and that the island wasn't massive; if anyone else had been on the island Nolan would have killed them. They inflated their spare raft and Celine took up the double-bladed oar, her paddle slicing through the surface over and over with barely a splash from years of practice as the boat glided smoothly and silently through the water while Olivia slept through the night on the raft.

Diana and Corinth had run out of the Cornucopia's food and had resorted to hunting the wildlife. Corinth knew she had no chance at finding safe plants and left that to Diana who had at least scored 50% while she hurled her knives at anything that moved. She managed to obtain enough meat for the night while Diana had only a small stash of berries, having rejected many that were actually alright.

The next day, Olivia had to almost drag Celine along, the younger girl having been awake the entire night guiding them back to the Cornucopia. When she spotted another tribute, Olivia quietly informed Celine, who forced a smile and followed her onward, refreshed by the prospect of sponsors when one floated down. A single pill, already costing almost all her mentor's sponsor funds due to being so late in the Games, landed in Celine's hands, along with the note that said "Consume now. -Elara" As not every district had a Victor to play mentor, Capitolites filled in for those lacking mentors, so Celine's mentor was a Capitolite named Elara. She hoped for Four's tributes of the Fifth Games not to be mentored by said Capitolite. Raising the pill to her mouth, she shoved it in and bit down hard, releasing the flavouring of the medical creation along with the stimulating chemicals that kept her fully awake. The pill had contained a modified version of caffeine that kept people up for a full day after consumption, and Celine felt invigorated as she followed her ally, twirling her trident almost instinctively as she enjoyed the feel of the weight of the pronged tip in her trained hands. Olivia kept going, suddenly shushing Celine and striding forward quietly. Kareem didn't notice the girl until he felt someone crash into him, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there, and felt the blade resting on his back. Olivia beckoned Celine closer, knowing the girl would act as a guard until she finished her kill as they had done for their allies before them. She pressed down her knife, hearing Kareem scream and try to throw her off as he realised he could no longer move, whereby she was glad he'd arched up his back to buck her off as it exposed his throat for a cleaner kill. She bent down, watching as he screamed harder when the blade was placed against his neck before cutting off his cries with a single stroke.

 _Kareem Ocer, District 11 Male: 6th, Killed by Olivia, Day 7_

The other alliance thought that Diana's meagre berry supply would be a nice addition to Corinth's catch instead of a backup food source, and Diana was the first to bite into one of her berries, splattering bright bluish-blackish juice everywhere. When Corinth reached out for one of her own, Diana reached a weak arm out and stopped her before collapsing to the ground, dead. She was the first tribute to consume nightlock.

 _Diana Jix, District 7 Female: 5th, Killed by poisonous berries, Day 7_

As Diana's cannon fired, waves suddenly began to literally swallow the edge of the Arena, closing in and forcing Corinth to run for the horn while rocking Elsa's island. Elsa knew she had to run, but the sea was a death trap. In short, she was dead. Elsa understood there was no way she was going to be able to make the swim back to the Cornucopia even if the girl from Four for some reason didn't want to kill her and came to help her since it had taken her over a day to make it there, and now the Gamemakers wanted her to cross back in a few minutes. She watched, suddenly at ease with the death, as her island rocked back and forth in the water. Suddenly, one particularly big wave crashed down, sweeping her into the ocean and swallowing the island, tearing it apart as smaller waves continued to fall. Unburdened by supplies, she thrashed helplessly in the water as it tossed her around, nearer and nearer to the horn. Eventually, her legs gave out to the water's ceaseless strength and she dipped below, coming up spluttering in pure fear and falling under once more. This time, she emerged only after the Games ended.

 _Elsa Fossin, District 8 Female: 4th, Killed by drowning, Day 7_

That left only Olivia Ciall of District 2, Celine Monnere of District 2 and Corinth Akide of District 10 to fight it out for survival and Victory. The three met minutes after Elsa's death at the Cornucopia, and immediately Olivia and Celine, both Careers and loyal allies from the start, lunged at Corinth, and Celine managed to spear her sword arm as Olivia landed her blow deep in Corinth's heart. The girl never had a chance, and she slumped, dead, as the Careers withdrew their weapons and turned to face each other.

 _Corinth Akide, District 10 Female: 3rd, Killed by Celine and Olivia, Finale_

The pair nodded, stepped away from each other, and raised their weapons. "Nice Games we actually had together." Celine nodded at Olivia's words as they prepared to fight out the end. When Olivia threw the knife for her head, she caught it within the prongs of her trident and sprinted for the waves that had by now calmed, the oxygen pack still on her back from their encounter with Nolan. As she dived below the calming waves, Olivia attempted to shoot her with the bow, but Celine's trained and practiced ease underwater and the slowing effect on the arrows were more than enough for her to dodge every shot, and Olivia knew she had to go in close. She too dived in, slightly bellyflopping yet drawing the knife quickly, but before she could do a thing she was bleeding out, the trident in her back and moments later the spear in her neck as Celine bobbed above the surface once more, leaving her friend to die.

 _Olivia Ciall, District 2 Female: 2nd, Killed by Celine, Finale_

"Celine Monnere of District 4, you are the Victor of the 4th Hunger Games!" Flavius congratulated the Career as Celine discarded her oxygen pack and smiled. She'd escaped the games virtually unscathed, something most Victors before or since would not be able to say. She felt a slight pang of loss for Olivia, but really couldn't care less about Harbor's betrayal, and at the end of the day it was still her emerging Victor, not Olivia. Olivia had had to die for her to come out.

 _Victor - District 4 Female - Celine Monnere_

 **Events**

Celine's Victory Tour goes well, with District 2, 3, 10 and 12 booing her, but Twelve had begun to accept early deaths while Two knew Olivia had been beaten in a true Career battle and that they would be just as strong the next year - no, stronger, and neither tried to truly harm Celine, while Three and Ten saw her as a deserving Victor, only the families of the dead truly angered by Celine, and again there was no attempt made on her life.

Celine moves into the Victor's Village of District 4, the first Victor to do so.

 **List of Victors**

1st HG: Eli Wendell (#1, #1, District 3)

2nd HG: Isadora Kent(#1, #1, District 6)

3rd HG: Keith Allone(#1, #1, District 7)

4th HG: Celine Monnere(#1, #1, District 4)

 **A/N: So there we go, first Career Pack! Also, if you could leave a review, that would be amazing as this** ** _is_** **my first story... see you all next time with the Fifth Hunger Games!**


	7. The 5th Hunger Games

**Background**

President Emerald, like more than half the Capitol, enjoyed watching the Games and the bloody deaths, but since the Games were played with children from the Districts, District viewership of the Games was quite low. As such, to make them hate each other more and prevent uprisings, she introduced mandatory viewing, forcing the people to watch the Games recaps each day or face consequences from the Peacekeepers. Many still did not want to watch, and the Peacekeeper forces stormed lots of houses that claimed to be watching on private televisions, but were really hiding from the Games shows that took over the Capitol TV channels during those weeks. Head Gamemaker Josephine promised to ensure this year would be more entertaining to Capitolites than any before as a reminder to the Districts that no matter how much they hated it the Capitol held absolute power over their lives.

The Arena this year was a mansion similar to the one President Emerald shared with Head Gamemaker Josephine. The Cornucopia was located in one of the numerous sitting rooms, and the supplies were limited slightly, a sizeable part of it having been scattered and hidden throughout the mansion's many rooms. This year, the tributes from One, Two and Four, save the boy from Two, were all trained and prepared. All five of them were volunteers this year, having enjoyed watching Celine's Victory the previous year as inspiration to spur them on during the harsh training they endured. They were the only volunteers this year.

The five Careers were quick to ally, and again dominated the field, their three lowest scorers this year still higher than the two highest scoring outliers. The boy from One was the son of a Peacekeeper who took a part-time job in the Academy of the District. He had been trained especially hard for the Games, his father often punishing him severely for minor flaws in technique. His abilities with brute-force weapons such as the club, mace or even the sword if necessary were unparalleled amongst the remainder of the Pack, and Radiance was also especially skilled at hand-to-hand combat, easily dispatching the trainer. His district partner was a well-known fashion designer for the younger teens and utilised her looks and skill with the bow and mace to sway many a Capitolite into sponsoring them in the Arena. The girl from Two was like Olivia in that she was fiercely loyal to her allies and District, but to her, allies came below her district partner. She was skilled with the scythe and all aspects of the knives, and she had topped over 500 of the Academy children from Two in knife throwing to emerge the ranged fighter ranked first. She vowed that she would split from the Pack if it became necessary to help her younger and weaker partner survive longer. Four's boy was a renowned surfer who was extremely capable in the water. The people back home who knew him well thought he would be a tough match for even Celine, the Victor of the year before, in the ocean where she had scored the crucial final kill. He used the trident and spear to great effect, nearly killing one of the trainers, and would have had the Capitolian medical teams not been ready. The girl was a sadistic child who had loved to experiment with the rats in her house, and she preferred longer and more painful weapons to do her killing such as the whip or a slightly blunted spear. Sharp enough for her to kill, but blunt enough that it would cause her target immense pain in the process as it would take several strokes. Overall, two tens and three nines were scored within the Pack, a score they were somewhat proud of.

Among the other tributes, there were several good scores, with Violet from Five and Jaxon from Twelve earning eights with skills in traps and the pickaxe respectively. Violet was an overachiever and model student at her school, always spending her free time experimenting with traps and electrical equipment, while Jaxon was the son of a poor miner and so had to master efficiency with the weapon to help feed their family, and due to his age was actually almost on par with the Careers in speed and endurance. Sevens were scored by Casey and Aerne from Eleven, both skilled survivalists and agile tributes who were somewhat capable with the knife. Both allied with Jaxon after seeing the Career brutality of the 4th Games. The rest of the tributes scored between six and one.

 **Tribute List**

District 1: Radiance Karon, 17, 10, and Aria Caltene, 18, 9

District 2: Kereine Stark, 15, 4, and Lena Isari, 18, 10

District 3: Uliera Latier, 14, 6, and Oxea Puraille, 16, 6

District 4: Coast Beine, 18, 9, and Parina Daiwiere, 16, 9

District 5: Aldarin Jero, 16, 4, and Violet Cartherinn, 15, 8

District 6: Worenn Laseare, 14, 5, and Rhea Apache, 13, 2

District 7: Aryn Beilare, 12, 1, and Saryll Odina, 15, 3

District 8: Derek Harthe, 17, 6, and Evelyn Carteira, 13, 1

District 9: Melvin Yareel, 15, 3, and Amaryllis Colthe, 14, 4

District 10: Xavier Sereil, 15, 6, and Cori Plere, 17, 2

District 11: Casey Delar, 17, 7, and Aerne Olleone, 18, 7

District 12: Jaxon Trei, 18, 8, and Onerille Sarrina, 12, 3

 **The Games**

The tributes rose into the Arena, and almost all spent at least half of the allotted minute of safety to look around and admire the beauty of the giant mansion. The Careers were clear exceptions, glancing briefly around before quickly deciding on their targets, while Jaxon was one of the quickest tributes to regain his focus, looking around for less than ten seconds as he found Casey and Aerne across the Cornucopia. Uliera from Three glanced to his left, spotting the Career from One who he had insulted repeatedly in training meet his gaze, and prepared to run away from the boy but into the horn. Lena saw the gleaming blade of the scythe she had requested within the weapon pile and immediately knew it was hers. Parina also readied to run in, noticing the handle joined to a rope that formed her whip and the blunt edge of a spearpoint that signified her special weapon. Kereine saw that the only Career within three pedestals either side of him was his district partner right next to him on his right. He felt like of all the trained tributes she would be the most likely to give him any form of chance and decided to take the risk. Escaping would almost certainly get her to lock on to him anyway.

When the gong rang, two tributes ran immediately: Evelyn from 8 and Cori from 10. Both had low training scores, one and two respectively, and knew they were almost guaranteed death in the Bloodbath. The remaining twenty-two tributes ran for the precious supplies and weapons, resulting in a Bloodbath death count of seven. One tribute who went for the middle allowed himself to forgo the supplies in favour of killing another boy first. He sprinted quickly to the running form and tackled him to the ground, gripping the younger boy's neck tightly and watching as Uliera writhed in his powerful grasp. When the boy began to turn blue, Radiance grabbed him tighter and smashed his head down hard on the floor, the carpet not reducing his pain in the least as the boy from Three cried out. The Career decided he'd had enough and hoisted his target up, his powerful hands easily snapping the fragile neck of the boy, whereby Radiance casually discarded the limp form of the boy who had been stupid enough to mock a Career in training.

 _Uliera Latier, District 3 Male: 24th, Killed by Radiance, Bloodbath_

Among the Careers running straight for supplies, Lena was the quickest, snatching the glinting blade of the scythe that fell easily into her grip as she turned and slashed it across the chest of a boy that had only just arrived. When he collapsed, clutching at the injury, she strode over and finished the job, making the nearly fatal wound even deeper and killing him in moments.

 _Worenn Laseare, District 6 Male: 23rd, Killed by Lena, Bloodbath_

Parina soon joined her ally, followed by the remainder of the Pack soon after, a testament to his speed that Radiance was among them. She snatched the whip in her right hand, twirling the blunted speartip in her other as she emerged from the horn. The first thing she noticed was a running outlier who had scored well, and her whip was soon buried in the soft flesh of the girl's left arm. She wrenched it out, taking off half the limb with her, her target falling, screaming, to the ground as Parina continued to lash the back of her unfortunate victim with the lethally sharp spikes, soon silencing her cries as the Career rejoined her allies.

 _Violet Cartherinn, District 5 Female: 22nd, Killed by Parina, Bloodbath_

Jaxon had witnessed all three Career kills and knew his alliance needed to make one of their own to be considered contenders by the Capitol. The only person anywhere near him, save for the Career pack who had not yet seen him, and of course he hoped to keep it that way lest he suffer a death like the ones he had just seen, was Aryn, the male tribute that was half of a weak year for District 7, their usually-strong children scoring only a one and three this year. He snatched the pickaxe he had just reached and turned, sprinting for the twelve-year-old. When Aryn noticed him, he screamed and turned, trying to run, but Jaxon easily tackled the young boy to the ground, swiftly ending his Games with the pickaxe he wielded.

 _Aryn Beilare, District 7 Male: 21st, Killed by Jaxon, Bloodbath_

When Jaxon rose, he saw his allies both running towards him from either side. As he stood to help them toward the doorway to the room, Casey collapsed, revealing a trident in his back and Coast behind him. The Career grinned as the remaining two hurriedly ran for the door, and by the time Coast had reached the entrance the pair had disappeared from view. He cursed softly, disappointed, before returning to seek another kill.

 _Casey Delar, District 11 Male: 20th, Killed by Coast, Bloodbath_

As mentioned earlier, it had been a horrible year for District Seven, and the only outlier kill was made by Derek from Eight, the boy tackling younger Saryll and stabbing her repeatedly as her thrashing from went limp under his weight. He snatched her meagre supplies of a single bottle of water before fleeing through the doorway that the alliance had used.

 _Saryll Odina, District 7 Female: 19th, Killed by Derek, Bloodbath_

By now, everyone had seemingly left the area. The Careers soon noticed the lack of cannons, and Lena was the one who found him hiding behind the sofa. Her own district partner. She took barely a second to make the choice, quickly shushing the boy's panicked screams, but it was too late as Coast turned the corner, his eyes widening as he saw Lena attempting to conceal Kereine. She took a second to look up straight into the cold eyes of her fellow Career before roughly shoving her partner towards the door and raising her scythe to battle Coast. After a few rushed strokes, both seeming to explore the other's skills, he managed to scrape her arm with all three of the prongs of his trident. Enraged, Lena lashed out in retaliation, nearly catching his weapon, as she dropped to the floor and quickly swept her leg out, tripping and flooring him. She sprung to her feet and raised the scythe to drive it into his prone form when suddenly an arrow buried itself in her back, courtesy of Aria, the only Career who had yet to make a kill, and she collapsed atop Coast, who pushed off her limp body and lifted himself up to thank Aria.

 _Lena Isari, District 2 Female: 18th, Killed by Coast and Aria, Bloodbath_

Lena's death marked the end of the Bloodbath, and the Careers were quite satisfied with the seven deaths, five of those being caused by the powerful alliance. When the cannons finished, the four Careers got to work sorting their slightly diminished supply pile, and they quickly realised something was wrong, deciding that they would immediately set out hunting for both more supplies and other tributes. They agreed that each day, they would rotate, two of them on guard at the horn while the other pair searched the gigantic building. Having the highest score of the surviving Careers, Radiance immediately took over as the leader, taking Coast out with him and leaving behind both female Careers to stand watch at the golden structure. The two decided to methodically go through the seemingly endless rooms of the mansion, selecting one of the four entrances and exploring every room within approximately five hundred metres of that doorway before returning to check another. As they did so, Aria and Parina continued to sort their supplies painstakingly slowly, piling all the weapons deep within the horn and their prepacked food and water backpacks closer to the gaping mouth where they could easily snatch it if necessary. Out of nowhere, the girl from the fishing district found herself vowing out loud that when Lena's district partner was found she would make a brutal kill for turning the strong girl on them, and Aria just nodded quietly, continuing to shuffle equipment around the Cornucopia as she did so.

Kereine himself had barely managed to evade Aria's first arrow that lodged in the fabric of his backpack, only saved from continued pursuit by Lena overpowering her attacked just in time to force the girl to shoot at her instead of him. He had escaped with a knife and a pack which contained several bottles of water and a single packet of crackers, which he gladly ate when the anthem played as he discovered a kitchen. The one he had found contained only more crackers, but it was more than enough to sustain him, and he remained there for the rest of the day, pocketing the cleaver that lay on the gleaming marble tabletop as a second weapon, though he seriously doubted his ability to dual-wield under pressure.

Jaxon and Aerne had obtained only their preferred weapons, the pickaxe and belt of knives respectively, and when they came across a bedroom both wasted no time collapsing upon the twin beds and neither wanted to get up until the anthem played as the pair enjoyed the few comforts they would get in the Arena. Aerne even managed to fall asleep, her snores cut off by Jaxon awakening her, not wanting to face the Careers this early on.

Evelyn, one of only two to flee the Bloodbath, stumbled upon a bathroom which was actually rather spacious, and she slid herself into the closet as she tried to quiet her panicked breaths from both her lack of stamina and her fear of the Careers finding her, knowing she stood no chance against practically any of the others.

Aerne's snores were not heard by the Career Pack, but they were noticed by a single tribute. When the noises stopped, Derek hoped he had discovered a weaker tribute who could provide a kill and more sponsors. The instant he pushed the door, it swung open, and he knew he had made a probably fatal mistake as Jaxon leapt towards him, his pickaxe flying through the air. He raised his knives, but collapsed when pain exploded in his side from a knife Aerne had thrown, and he barely heard her calling Jaxon to stop. "Derek, right?" The lethal girl from Eleven smiled at him as she offered to ally, realising his training score meant he could help them be more than just an annoyance to the Careers. He gratefully accepted her hand as he stood up, dusting himself off as he sheathed the weapons and unslung his backpack. Pulling out the sole item within it, a first aid kit, he proceeded to apply the medicine to his injury with an ease that suggested he had done it many times before and was soon sprawled on the bed beside Jaxon as they relaxed together.

Oxea hadn't been a massive standout, but she was still rather skilled with rigging traps, being from Three and all. When she found a luxurious game room, she snatched the metal pool cue, clearly intended as a makeshift club, from its rack and began to set up something as a conductor to the lights, tearing apart bits of the ceiling with the hammer she had retrieved and wiring it through her new weapon in hopes of electrocuting the entire room from the adjoining tiny bathroom.

Cori, the other to run from the Horn of Plenty empty-handed, happened upon a storeroom in which she discovered bags of canned food heaped upon each other along with several dispenser-sized water tanks, which she gladly tore open. With the mass of supplies in her hideout, she decided she would wait out the Games here, if they found her, she wouldn't have stood a chance in the open anyway.

The next day, it was the boys' turn to undertake the job of remaining at the horn, while the girls departed to take their shot at finding tributes. And they were much more successful. Just minutes after they left their camp behind, Aria had to shush her ally's attempts at lightening the mood as she heard someone shuffling behind one of the doors. She readied her mace, and the instant Parina leaned back to swing the heavy door wide open, she charged into the room and managed to slip on the wet floor, only just avoiding a skull fracture as she caught herself on one of the racks for disabled convenience, dropping the mace as she did so and getting lucky that the hidden tribute did not emerge to snatch her weapon and kill off one of the Careers. The other girl quickly joined her, and when they did not see anyone, they decided to throw open the two closets in the room, whoever it was having heard the clatter of Aria's mace. As Parina flung open the first, it revealed an empty box, not a trace of any other tributes, and they turned their attention to the other where Evelyn lay concealed within attempting to silence her almost tangible panic at the obvious noise. Aria threw Evelyn's door wide open, the girl visibly quivering at the presence of the trained duo as the girl from the luxury district lifted the mace. When Aria moved to bring the steel-tipped weapon down on her head, Evelyn reacted quickly, darting below the raised arm and out of the closet. She would have escaped the bathroom altogether had Parina not had the instinctive response of slamming shut the door, trapping the young and terrified girl with the powerhouses in a small room where they could take their time with the kill and eliciting a yell of pain as the wood squeezed her hand against the doorframe, breaking several bones in the process. She'd seen both in training and could only hope it would be Aria delivering her end, knowing it would be far quicker than anything the other Career would savor. She got her wish as the older of the pair claimed her life swiftly and efficiently, slamming the mace down onto her skull and giving Evelyn the fracture she had barely avoided moments before, watching as the girl fell sprawling to the floor and promptly died.

 _Evelyn Carteira, District 8 Female: 17th, Killed by Parina and Aria, Day 2_

The moment they heard the cannon, the duo left the room, continuing to search the halls for other targets. Soon after, they discovered an empty storeroom, but stuffed several cans of food into their respective backpacks to bring back to camp for their allies. The next door along revealed a kitchen, and the creak alerted the boy Parina had vowed revenge on. He turned and raised the knives, his escape route blocked, and poured his force into a single throw at Aria's head. The graceful Career slid easily aside, the blade lodging in the wood of the door. Parina stepped in closer to him, raising her whip as she did so and lashing out at the boy. Kereine barely managed to duck the strike, but as he did so, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach; Parina's other weapon had pierced the flesh. She kicked him off her spear and brought the whip down hard, tearing away at the skin of his back as he cried out. When she moved to sink the spear into his arm, he leapt to his feet, propelling himself upwards and the knife burying itself in the older girl's torso just inches from her heart. She roughly shoved him back, impaling his arm as she had intended as he fell again. When she started to tire of destroying his body with her whip, she suddenly stopped, and for a second, both Kereine and Aria thought she was done, finally about to end his life. Then she began to trace letters in his damaged back with her spear tip. As the boy lay facedown on the now-bloody carpet, screaming for help, she carved the words "D2M of the 5th" on one line. Lifting the spear, she continued to slice away the skin with precise and skilled movements, writing out the kill in blood as she finished her markings with "Killed by Parina Daiwiere, D4F." After nearly half an hour of tormenting the boy, she stood and sank the steel tip of her whip into his neck, finally marking his long and painful death as they turned from the bloody and mangled corpse of the District 2 boy.

 _Kereine Stark, District 2 Male: 16th, Killed by Parina, Day 2_

The Careers were unable to find anyone else that day, and they returned to their camp filled with elation over their two kills of the day. When they revealed the cans they had brought back, Radiance just shrugged and threw them into their food supply pile, ever the party pooper of the group.

Jaxon, Aerne and Derek continued their exploration, having left the bedroom well-made as though it was never inhabited. Derek and Jaxon got along quite well, with with Aerne now becoming a third wheel to their light-hearted banter. As much as the girl from Eleven hated the way she'd made her ally spare Derek only for them to virtually ignore her apart from scattered mutters of where they should go, she was extremely loyal and kind and didn't want to backstab her friend from Twelve until it became necessary. As such, she merely tried to interject into the casual conversations more, and their latest ally gradually began to warm to talking about their lives with the poor slum girl who had saved his life, the trio all forming tight friendships and vowing to be the Final 3.

Not being part of a major alliance or a major threat to the Careers, Oxea, Aldarin, Rhea, Melvin, Amaryllis, Xavier, Cori and Onerille were all somewhat under the radar, both major alliances and almost all of the audience having forgotten about them. Oxea continued to build her trap, requesting several sponsor parts and receiving them in short order from interested Capitolites who wanted to see how she would use her one advantage, many of whom had actually informally bet on her with their friends and wanted to see her pull off an underdog win. Aldarin discovered Amaryllis hiding in a bedroom and pulled out his sword as she revealed a knife gripped tightly in either hand. When he lunged at her, the sword piercing the air dangerously close to her torso, she barely managed to evade the blow as she readied to counter him on the next attack. He slashed the weapon at her head as she slid to the right, launching a well-placed kick which knocked him to the floor. The older boy groaned from the pain, but managed to stumble to his feet as she brought down her knife, the blade thudding into the floor less than a centimetre from where his head had been as he lashed out with a kick of his own, his sword having fallen to the side and been kicked out of reach by Amaryllis before she struck. He forced her down onto the soft carpet and reached for the knife she had tried to kill him with, forgetting about the one concealed in her hand. As he yanked the blade out of the fabric and the wood of the floor, she poured her energy into one motion, throwing him off and gaining the upper hand as she pinned a still-unarmed Aldarin to the ground. She knew that being older, he had the advantage in raw strength, and relied on her weight to hold the boy down as she raised the knife high above her head. When she brought it down, the boy threw both hands up and gripped her hands clasping the handle, pushing against her with all his force, knowing his life depended on it. Suddenly, the door burst open, and both were distracted for an instant as they looked up to see the young twelve-year-old from Twelve staring at them. Onerille was the first to regain her senses, turning and bolting from the room; she knew she could never survive the winner of their fight or cause an alliance. But she did cause an alliance. Both Aldarin and Amaryllis snapped back to it together, but Amaryllis was quick to propose an alliance, equally quickly accepted by the grateful Aldarin as they both retrieved their weapons and sprinted out in pursuit of the girl who had found them. Unfortunately, there were many rooms, and by the time they had reached the entrance Onerille had already slid into a kitchen and hid in a cabinet. They were completely clueless as to where she had gone, and as the pair began to check the doorways, she took a chance and emerged, running back the way she came and ducking into the closet in the bedroom they had fought in. Rhea had only a single knife obtained from the kitchen she found herself in, and she continued to hide in her room as the heavy footsteps of Aerne's alliance passed by. Melvin, Amaryllis' district partner, found a room unknowingly close to the alliance who had nearly found Rhea and managed to fall asleep in seconds on the luxurious and comfortable Capitol bed. Cori and Xavier also crossed paths, but as District partners the alliance was much more obvious; in less than five seconds the pair had allied. They settled in a room near the Careers and remained there for the night.

The next day, Derek suggested that they should continue checking every room they passed. The first few were empty, but as he pushed in yet another door, he revealed a sleeping Melvin, and Jaxon wasted no time piercing his side with the pickaxe. The pain of the wound awoke the boy, and he opened his eyes to see the gash pouring blood and the three tributes looking back at him as just another tribute in the way of Victory. He soon bled out, his body going limp on the bloodstained bed covers that were once white as they turned and exited the room.

 _Melvin Yareel, District 9 Male: 15th, Killed by Jaxon, Day 3_

Minutes later, the Careers jolted awake from the cannon and Radiance proposed a different split for the coming days. They left only Aria, with her skills at range with the bow, to guard the horn as the other three departed to continue their search. Unfortunately for Radiance, they found nothing that day, and had to return eventually, Coast volunteering to stand guard the next day as he was the only other Career to have range with his spear throws.

On Day 4, the trio of Aria, Radiance and Parina were sponsored a map of tributes, but they did not have a key as to who was who. They decided to go after someone at random, following the path to open one of the kitchen doors which exposed Rhea holding her sole knife. The instant she saw Parina reaching for her whip to claim another prolonged kill, the thirteen-year-old decided she didn't want such a fate and made a cut on her own wrists, allowing the blood to pour out as she sliced her own throat open and fell to the ground.

 _Rhea Apache, District 6 Female: 14th, Suicide, Day 4_

The remainder of Day 4 passed deathless. The next, Aria remained at their camp, leaving Coast to go tribute hunting with Radiance and Parina. Only minutes after leaving their camp, the trio discovered Onerille hiding in her bedroom, and with the trained allies blocking her escape she had no chance. Unarmed, she was never a match for any of them as Radiance stepped forward to deliver the kill. She could only slide to the ground and plead with the Career as he quickly snapped her neck. The instant Onerille's cannon sounded, the map in Coast's hands disintegrated, leaving only dust as the others turned to check it again. Now they knew it was one-time-use, the trio had to resort to slowly checking every room again.

 _Onerille Sarrina, District 12 Female: 13th, Killed by Radiance, Day 5_

Day 5 saw Oxea completing her trap with some sponsor assistance. The Career Pack also received more food supplies from a generous sponsor as they had been running low, and when night came, another one-time-use tribute map. Derek, Aerne and Jaxon also continued to explore, receiving a sponsor of a new pickaxe for Jaxon. Instead of putting away his old one, he decided to carry both and dual-wield his specialty weapon. For the rest of the day, the three sparred against each other in a soundproof karaoke room they stumbled across. Cori and Xavier just wandered the place, and knowing they were probably the weakest alliance they naturally avoided any sounds of footsteps or talking, while the alliance of Aldarin and Amaryllis started to fracture slightly, with heated verbal arguments ensuing as the duo progressed, but they did not yet fight again.

The next day, the Careers went searching for the nearest tribute on the map. Whoever it was didn't move much, simply walking in a small area as though they were doing something there. As they neared, the tribute stopped moving completely and the three wondered if he or she knew they were coming. When they reached the marked door, they fell silent as Aria prepared to pull it wide open and stand watch outside. The door swung out, exposing an empty game room with a seemingly discarded metal pool cue on the floor. Radiance beckoned Parina to follow him in as his district partner got ready to be their rearguard, and the two stepped into the room to notice a razor-thin wire that was almost invisible taped to the underneath of the cue. Immediately, Radiance knew what had happened and who their target was. He rushed for the doorway, while Parina stood in shock, not comprehending her ally's movements, before it happened. In her bathroom, Oxea triggered her trap and watched through the window as both of the Careers who had entered noticed her barely a split second before they began to spasm uncontrollably. A second later, Parina collapsed to the ground, a cannon sounding as Radiance, unable to escape through the door in time due to having gone in first, soon followed and fell, whereby Oxea deactivated her trap.

 _Parina Daiwiere, District 4 Female: 12th, Killed by Oxea, Day 6_

 _Radiance Karon, District 1 Male: 11th, Killed by Oxea, Day 6_

Aria noticed the two cannons - it would have been difficult not to - and decided to enter the room herself. Fortunately for her, the sheer electric current passing through Oxea's trap had broken the wiring, and as she stepped through the doorway and over the dead body of her district partner, Oxea panicked, repeatedly stabbing at her switch with all the pent-up energy and fear. By the time Aria had reached the doorway, the younger girl had just curled up inside the bathtub and hoped that the Career would not find her. But Aria was determined, spurred on by the rage of two Career kills, one of them her district partner; she easily discovered the quivering form of the girl from Three. She drew Radiance's knives and four well-aimed throws pinned the girl to the edge of the tub. As Oxea continued to cry and plead with the eighteen-year-old, Aria returned to Parina's corpse and removed both the whip and blunted spear. When she went back in, her target glimpsed the weapons and screamed relentlessly while her back was slowly carved away by a vengeful Aria.

 _Oxea Puraille, District 3 Female: 10th, Killed by Aria, Day 6_

When Aria returned to camp, slightly shaken from the girl she had just killed taking out two of her trained powerhouse allies, including her district partner, Coast immediately noticed the absence of the pair. A split second later, he was charging at Aria, his trident raised to counter her mace. But she reacted quickly, slipping to the right and skilfully evading his stroke before displaying the section of her weapon belt that held both Radiance's and Parina's preferred weapons, the ones she had salvaged from their bodies and used to kill Oxea. She removed her district partner's sword, shoved her own mace into the belt, and turned to face him again. "Coast." Her voice was calm, relaxed even, but she remained ready to avoid an attack at any instant. He didn't try. "Do you trust that District 3, the district of technology, is perfectly capable of creating traps?" He just nodded, slowly coming to a realisation of what had caused three cannons and Aria returning alone. "The Three girl died just now. She got both Radiance and Parina, but I was guarding the room. I went in because her trap broke, and I killed her." Coast began to lower his weapon, their bond, like Olivia and Celine the year prior, only strengthened by the death of half their alliance.

On Day 7, two alliances clashed. The instant they saw each other, Cori and Xavier turned and tried to run, but Derek was the quickest to react, immediately chasing the duo and slashing the air less than half a metre behind her. As they continued to move, Cori slowed, a knife buried in her thigh, and she went sprawling to the floor as Derek easily caught up and tackled her to the ground. He raised the knife and brought it down on the back of her neck as she quickly bled out.

 _Cori Plere, District 10 Female: 9th, Killed by Aerne and Derek, Day 8_

That left the final eight: Aria Caltene from District 1, Coast Beine from District 4, Aldarin Jero from District 5, Derek Harthe from District 8, Amaryllis Colthe from District 9, Xavier Sereil from District 10, Aerne Olleone from District 11 and Jaxon Trei from District 12.

Against all his survival instincts, Xavier turned, reaching out to pull his district partner back alongside him, when he saw her pinned below Derek, the bright red liquid flowing freely from a gash on her throat, and he flung himself at the boy, his knife extended to strike. Derek was unable to react in time before the blade pierced his side, and he collapsed, limp, atop his target's body. Xavier knew the boy would either die or be badly wounded, either way, he wouldn't pose a threat in the near future - which, he thought grimly, was all that mattered in the Games: you never knew how much longer your future would last. He immediately turned, leaving the knife protruding from the boy from Eight as he ran from the two bodies. Jaxon immediately sprinted behind him, aiming for the same takedown as Derek had pulled. However, Aerne beat him to it, throwing her knife and watching as it lodged in the head of the running boy. He fell, and it was easy from there: Aerne released again as Jaxon neared, but before he could bring the pickaxe down onto Xavier's body, the cannon sounded, and the official kill was recorded as Aerne's alone.

 _Xavier Sereil, District 10 Male: 8th, Killed by Aerne, Day 8_

Mere minutes later, as the pair requested a sponsor for Derek, his mentor incapable of sending it due to lack of funding as he was the weakest of the three, their ally bled out and died on top of his final kill. Their own mentors had refused to deliver the medical kit, knowing the boy didn't have long, choosing to just watch as the pair allowed their tears for their friend to flow.

 _Derek Harthe, District 8 Male: 7th, Killed by Xavier, Day 8_

The next day, Aldarin and Amaryllis began to run low on supplies. With the earlier frustration at his protests, she suddenly turned as the pair were walking down a long, carpeted corridor. As she turned into a kitchen, her ally came up beside her, and that was when she turned. Before Aldarin could react, her knife was buried in his heart with pinpoint accuracy, and her former ally collapsed, dying almost instantly from the wound.

 _Aldarin Jero, District 5 Male: 6th, Killed by Amaryllis, Day 9_

On Day 10, there was a completely unforced chance meeting between the two remaining alliances. As Jaxon and Aerne emerged from their bedroom, they saw the duo rushing closer from their right. Immediately, the pair prepared themselves to fend off the Careers as they drew to within their range. The instant Coast stepped into reach, he swung his trident hard, and it connected with Aerne's face, but the attempt she made at evading the stroke ensured that instead of piercing her lip it merely cracked several bones. She dropped her knives, clawing at her skin as Aria yelled at Coast to take on Twelve. At that, she regained her senses, drawing another two knives with a satisfying metallic scrape, but it was already too late as Aria's mace slammed into her hands, knocking her weapons from her grip and forcing her to draw another in the hope of blocking the next stroke for her skull. Meanwhile, the years of experience proved useful for Jaxon as his pickaxe comfortably deflected Coast's trident again and again, the pronged weapon glancing off his opponent's instinctive blocks. Aerne doubled over as the mace struck her skull, clasping it between her hands as the mace descended again and ended her Games.

 _Aerne Olleone, District 11 Female: 5th, Killed by Coast and Aria, Day 10_

When the cannon fired, Jaxon knew Coast had to die within seconds or he would pay with his life. The boy lunged, his pickaxe first resonating against the steel prongs before sliding smoothly into Coast's soft flesh. The weapon punctured his heart, and Coast soon joined Aerne in death.

 _Coast Beine, District 4 Male: 4th, Killed by Jaxon, Day 10_

Both fighters couldn't even remember the last tribute. They knew that if they won here, they were pretty much the guaranteed Victor, and as such both pushed harder than ever to survive. Their weapons clanged off each other, Jaxon's strength countered by Aria's speed, and the duo continued to fight for several minutes, each blow met with a block and a strike of its own, back and forth, until suddenly Jaxon dropped his pickaxe. The soft carpet muffled the thud as the weapon landed several metres away, helped by a kick from the Career, as she stepped in closer and raised the mace. But the instant it went up to smash his skull, Jaxon ducked and slid aside, the weapon passing harmlessly through the air where he had been a split second earlier. Drawing his spare pickaxe from within his tribute outfit, he turned and brought it down, aiming to end the fight with a single blow. As the weapon parted Aria's hair, she managed to dodge the strike, her mace coming up sharply to pierce Jaxon's chest. He stumbled, attempting another attack, as his adversary dislodged the spiked head and slammed it hard into him again, the sharp barbs tearing away his skin as he dropped the weapon and fell.

 _Jaxon Trei, District 12 Male: 3rd, Killed by Aria, Day 10_

As Aria trudged back to the Cornucopia the sole survivor of the grand battle, Amaryllis stood ready, hidden from view within the golden walls. The instant the Career entered, Amaryllis' concealed knife slammed into her side, and she ripped it out to let blood gush freely from the gash. Empowered by rage and pain, Aria quickly discarded her bow and brought down the arrow, the steel tip piercing her lung. The next moment, both fell to the metal floor, their weapons too far as they slowly bled out. A few minutes later, Amaryllis' injury told, and her breathing became more laboured as it slowly stopped completely.

 _Amaryllis Colthe, District 9 Female: 2nd, Killed by Aria, Finale_

"Aria Caltene of District 1, you are the Victor of the 5th Hunger Games!" She smiled weakly, blood pouring from her wound, as the medical team descended to save her.

 _Victor - District 1 Female - Aria Caltene_

 **Events**

Aria's Victory Tour went relatively well, although the districts of any tribute she had a hand in the deaths of ignored her somewhat. No attempts were made on her life and any booing was silenced by the cheers of other people.

Aria moves into the Victor's Village of District 1, the first Victor to do so.

 **List of Victors**

1st HG: Eli Wendell (#1, #1, District 3)

2nd HG: Isadora Kent(#1, #1, District 6)

3rd HG: Keith Allone(#1, #1, District 7)

4th HG: Celine Monnere(#1, #1, District 4)

5th HG: Aria Caltene(#1, #1, District 1)

 **A/N: Hi again everyone! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, and I'm gonna say it was just because I lost inspiration halfway through. I had half of it written, then couldn't bring myself to write more than a few words each time I opened it. Hopefully, the next won't be as long, but I won't set a time since school has started again and I need to do other things. So see you all next time with the 6th Hunger Games!**


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